Putri Anggraini
A Hong Kong court has handed down substantial prison terms ranging from five to seven years to three prominent pro-democracy activists for their involvement in organizing annual candlelight vigils commemorating the victims of Beijing's 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.
The sentences, delivered on Friday, represent another major milestone in the judicial enforcement of the sweeping national security legislation that Beijing imposed on the territory in 2020. The ruling marks a severe escalation in the legal repercussions faced by the leaders of Hong Kong's long-standing civil society and pro-democracy movement.
Under the court’s decision, 69-year-old Lee Cheuk-yan and 41-year-old Chow Hang-tung were both sentenced to seven years of imprisonment after being convicted of inciting subversion. Their co-defendant, 74-year-old Albert Ho, received a sentence of five years and two months, having previously entered a guilty plea to the charges in January.
Both Lee and Chow had maintained their innocence throughout the judicial process, pleading not guilty when the proceedings began. As a result of their pleas and the refusal of bail under the security framework, both activists have remained in continuous detention since 2021. The presiding court noted that the prison terms handed down on Friday are expected to incorporate the time the defendants have already spent in custody.
The legal basis for the prosecutions rests entirely on the National Security Law, which Beijing directly instituted across Hong Kong in 2020 following months of massive, citywide pro-democracy protests in 2019. The implementation of this legislation has dramatically altered the local legal landscape, systematically dismantling broad swathes of civil liberties in a financial hub that previously maintained far greater civic freedoms than mainland China.
In delivering their verdict, the judges underscored that the defendants had contravened the Chinese constitution through their political advocacy. The court focused specifically on the group’s persistent demand for an "end to one-party dictatorship," a defining slogan that had been openly voiced for decades during the territory’s annual memorial gatherings.
The judicial panel acknowledged in its written ruling that the defendants' campaign did not involve acts of violence. Furthermore, the court conceded that the activists had not put forward any specific operational timetable to achieve their stated objective. Nevertheless, the judges concluded that the offence remained inherently of "a serious nature," justifying severe custodial sentences.
In addition to penalizing the individual organizers, the court directed punitive financial measures against the organization responsible for holding the annual memorials. The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, which has since been forced to dissolve, was ordered by the court to pay a fine of 1.5 million Hong Kong dollars, equivalent to approximately $191,000.
The three defendants have spent decades at the forefront of Hong Kong’s political opposition and civic activism. Lee is a former chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance, while Chow served as the organization's vice-chair. Ho, who also previously chaired the vigil group, was widely recognized as a veteran leader within the city's opposition Democratic Party.
Despite the protracted detention and heavy legal pressure, the defendants maintained an uncompromising stance during their trial. Chow, a qualified barrister who chose to conduct her own legal defense throughout the proceedings, told the court during a hearing last month that she had "nothing to repent for" regarding her efforts to commemorate the 1989 crackdown.
Family members of the convicted activists immediately indicated their intention to challenge the judicial outcome. Elizabeth Tang, the wife of Lee Cheuk-yan, confirmed to the Reuters news agency following the ruling that her husband would "definitely appeal" against his seven-year prison sentence.
For roughly three decades, the peaceful annual vigil in Hong Kong served as a globally recognized symbol of the special status and relative political freedoms enjoyed by the territory in contrast to the mainland. The events drew hundreds of thousands of participants to remember the victims of the 1989 military crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing, an event that remains strictly censored on the mainland.
The annual commemorations came to a permanent halt following the massive public unrest of 2019, which marked the final year the memorial was permitted to take place. With the introduction of the National Security Law in 2020, authorities formally outlawed the vigils and moved to prosecute the key figures who had sustained the tradition for over thirty years.
The sentencing drew immediate and sharp condemnation from the international community, including the United Nations, human rights organizations, and several foreign governments. Critics highlighted that the convictions reflect the ongoing suppression of basic civil rights and fundamental freedoms that had long distinguished Hong Kong from mainland Chinese cities.
The government of Taiwan also issued a strong condemnation of the verdicts, maintaining that the pursuit of human rights and democratic principles should never be criminalized. In an official statement, Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council asserted that authorities had fabricated charges and conducted political trials under the banner of national security primarily to protect an authoritarian regime.
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