'Hong Kong 47': Court wraps up mitigation hearing in city’s largest national security case

By Jessie Pang

HONG KONG (Reuters) - The last batch of 45 Hong Kong activists entered their final pleas on Tuesday for light sentences in a landmark national security trial over charges that they had formed a "conspiracy to subvert the state power".

The offence carries up to life in jail under a sweeping national security law Beijing imposed on the financial hub in 2020 after sometimes-violent democracy protests rocked the city for months in 2019.

Judge Andrew Chan said on Tuesday that the 45 would be sentenced at a later date that has yet to be decided.

A total of 47 activists were arrested and charged in 2021 for participating in an unofficial poll to select pro-democracy candidates for a 2020 legislative council election.

The defendants are accused of plotting to force the government to meet 2019 protest demands, including genuine universal suffrage, by planning to indiscriminately veto the budget if they secured a legislative majority with candidates chosen in a pre-selection poll.

Thirty one defendants pleaded guilty, 16 faced a 118-day trial last year and two were acquitted last May.

The 45 convicted activists started mitigation hearings, to hopefully reduce their potentially heavy sentences, in six batches and hearings spanning for three months from June.

On Monday as the last batch of eight defendants started their mitigation, journalist-turned activist Gwyneth Ho, one of the most vocal defendants during the trial, told the court through her lawyer that she did not have any mitigation to enter, a move that could leave her a longer sentence.

"I think she has been very persistent with her own...her own stance. I hope she can continue...to stay very strong," said Anthony Wong, 62, a friend of Ho.

Wong, a singer and LGBTQ-rights icon, attended the hearing wearing a black University of Amsterdam T-shirt given to him by Ho's schoolmate. He said he wore it to show support to Ho and others.

Activist Owen Chow wrote in his mitigation letter that even though he's in jail today for fighting for democracy, he still believes that a "democratically elected government that serves the people will arrive in Hong Kong one day".

"I don’t know how long it will be until I regain my personal freedom. I just hope that when I step out of prison, I can proudly say to everyone: 'I didn't waste all these years'."

Ventus Lau, who defended himself in person on Monday, said his main goal was to “advocate for the protesters who were arrested for rioting” like himself but not vetoing the budget.

"I genuinely believed that the Primary (pre-selection poll) would not be illegal," Lau wrote in his mitigation letter, adding that many legal professionals endorsed it and even the police helped facilitate his campaign street booths and maintain order at the polling stations on 11 to 12 July 2020.

Mike Lam, one of four prosecution witnesses, said in his mitigation letter that he "had been influenced by the overseas power or sensationalism of the online media, indirectly become part of those who are anti-China and stir up troubles in Hong Kong". He said he had since taken courses to learn about national security.

Lam asked for community service through his lawyer on Tuesday, but it was immediately rejected by the judges.

Lam shook his head multiple times after hearing the judges challenge the usefulness of his witness statements to the prosecution case.

"An unreasonable request made before...three judges tripled the unreasonableness," declared Judge Johnny Chan. (This story has been refiled to clarify that the T-shirt was given by Ho's schoolmate in paragraph 10)

(Reporting by Jessie Pang; Editing by Michael Perry)