Analysis: Hong Kong 47 Sentenced in Landmark National Security Trial

TaiwanPlus News

Dozens of pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong have been sentenced under the territory’s national security law. To find out more, TaiwanPlus speaks to former Hong Kong district councilor Michael Mo.

Transcript

00:00And did anything about the sentencing surprise you?

00:02Of course, they should not, they should have never been in the jail in the first place.

00:09But looking into the length of their sentences, I think the handpicked national security judges

00:19in Hong Kong referenced similar offences in China to pretty much hand down that kind of length,

00:29and also considered whether they pleaded guilty or not. So it is not quite a surprise

00:37in that sense, because we compare what the prominent Chinese activists in China,

00:45like Lu Xiaobo or Li Wanyang, they pretty much face a similar length of sentences, just like

00:52Bandai Tai. But what surprised me is that the handpicked national security judges didn't go

00:59all the length to reference the recent sentencing of those Chinese dissidents,

01:07which face two decades of imprisonment.

01:10The unofficial primaries, were they really unofficial? What was their goal there?

01:15So according to the laws of Hong Kong, there is no recognised primary election of any kind.

01:25So that's why it is an unofficial one that is held mandatory by democracy. The Hong Kong

01:31authorities didn't go after the organisers or the candidates of these unofficial primaries

01:37before the NSL has been imposed. But soon after the NSL came into force,

01:44it is the Hong Kong authorities, one of the ministers, warned that such an unofficial

01:52primary calling for the five major demands of the Hong Kong's democratic movement

01:58were deemed illegal under the such law.

02:01What's your reaction to hearing the sentencing? I mean, obviously we knew it's coming for a long

02:08time, but for Hong Kongers and for you being so involved in the pro-democracy movement,

02:14what did that feel like?

02:16I think because of the case has been dragged for so long that a length of the sentences itself

02:27is rather not so striking to me, rationally. Emotionally, I would say,

02:41I just imagine it might be a relief for some of the people who I know, some of them,

02:48I'm like my friends, might be a bit relieved to see that there's a light at the end of the tunnel.

02:59This is quite a paradoxical situation, isn't it? But it is what it is. I just simply hope that

03:06when they could set foot to freedom, they could just enjoy their lives and

03:14hope to see them one day soon.

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