They were prosecuted under the 2020 national security law for their roles in an unofficial primary election.
. Prosecutors said their aim was to paralyze Hong Kong ’s government and force the city’s leader to resign by aiming to win a legislative majority and using it to block government budgets indiscriminately.The unofficial primary held in July 2020 drew 610,000 voters, and its winners had been expected to advance to the official election. Authorities postponed the official legislative election, however, citing public health risks during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The judges rejected the reasoning from some defendants that the scheme would never have materialized, stating that “all the participants had put in every endeavor to make it a success.” Chan Po-ying, wife of defendant Leung Kwok-hung, told reporters she wasn’t shocked when she learned her husband received a jail term of six years and nine months. She said they were trying to use some of the rights granted by the city’s mini-constitution to pressure those who are in power to address the will of the people.
“The defendants were aggressively prosecuted and jailed for peacefully participating in normal political activity protected under Hong Kong’s Basic Law,” the statement said, referring to the city’s mini-constitution. . We view our mission to provide free, fair news as critically important in this crucial moment, and we can't do it without you.
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