Forty-seven Hong Kong democrats were formally charged with conspiracy to subvert state power by the police on Sunday for their participation in last year’s 35+ Legislative Council primary election.
Due to the large number of defendants, the defense attorneys needed a long Time to make their bail application, the first day of the arraignment lasted about 14 hours, during which some defendants fainted in the courtroom due to physical exhaustion and needed to be sent to hospital for medical treatment.
The judge said at 2:30 a.m. on Tuesday that he would not insist on continuing the hearing and adjourned until noon on Tuesday to continue the bail arguments. The former chairwoman of the Democratic Party, Emily Lau, criticized the prosecution for ignoring procedural justice and charging 47 people at once, and opposing bail for the defendants, which led to many people fainting from the long trial.
The Hong Kong Police National Security Division mobilized more than 1,000 police officers on January 6 to conduct a major search and arrest 53 democrats, accused of planning and participating in last year’s democratic 35+ Legislative Council primary elections, suspected of violating the “Hong Kong National Security Law”, of which 47 people were formally charged by the police on Sunday (February 28) with “conspiracy to subvert state power”. It is the largest prosecution since the implementation of the “Hong Kong National Security Law” 8 months ago, known as the “2-28 incident” in Hong Kong.
chaos on the first day of the National Security Law marathon
The 47 defendants, aged 23 to 64, include 56-year-old Tai Yiu-ting, a former associate professor of law at the University of Hong Kong; 33-year-old former pro-democracy legislator Au Nok-hin; 35-year-old Eastern District Councilor and former convener of the Democratic Movement, Chiu Ka-yin; 33-year-old former convener of the Democratic Front, Sham Tze-kit; 24-year-old former secretary-general of the Hong Kong House of Representatives, Wong Chi-fung, who is serving a prison sentence; and 27-year-old pro-democracy district councilor Sham Ao-fai. The defendants, who cover the most radical and moderate political spectrum of the democratic camp, were brought to the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Court on Monday morning (March 1).
Because of the large number of defendants, the court hearing the case to be reserved for the families of the defendants, not able to accommodate reporters inside, all reporters can only watch live TV in other courts, but the live screen can not see clearly the look of each being, the first day of arraignment of one of the defendants He Jia Lan even shouted in the courtroom, she was unable to meet with the representative lawyer before the trial, but also the defense lawyers said that the failure to contact the parties. The live screen shows that the courtroom was quite chaotic.
The case was originally scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. on Monday, but was delayed for about an hour in the chaos. The designated judge for the National Security Law, President Judge Su Huide, decided to postpone the case for another three hours to allow the defense attorneys access to their clients, and the trial only began at 3:30 p.m. on Monday.
The prosecution’s charges were filed partly before the implementation of the National Security Law
The prosecution’s case alleges that the defendants conspired together and with others in Hong Kong between July 1, 2020, and Jan. 7, 2021, to subvert Chinese state power.
The prosecution alleges that Tai and Au conspired with the other 42 defendants to capture a majority of seats in the Legislative Council election through the primary election. The conspiracy was to win the majority of seats in the Legislative Council election through the primary election, so as to veto the budget without any discrimination and trigger the resignation of the Chief Executive, and to implement the plan of “wooing and firing”.
The prosecution said the conspiracy lasted seven months and continued even after the implementation of the National Security Law. Had the Legislative Council election not been delayed for a year due to the new coronavirus Epidemic, the defendants would have continued their conspiracy to subvert the plan.
The defendants are also charged with one count of “conspiracy to subvert state power” and are not required to plead for the time being. The prosecution said that there are 400 items of digital data to be verified and a large number of financial transactions need to be investigated, which may be added to the other charges against the defendants, and applied to postpone the case for three months to May 31 for further arraignment, and opposed the defendants’ bail.
Leong Kah-kit said that February 28, 21 years must be recorded in the history of Hong Kong
On behalf of the four members of the Civic Party, Li Yuxin, Kwok Ka Ki, Tam Man Ho and Yeung Ngok Kiu, senior barrister Leung Ka Kit said that the prosecution’s request to postpone the police investigation for three months, but opposed to all defendants on bail, the practice is unjust and self-contradictory, and can not be justified. Leong said that the police should complete the investigation, that there is enough evidence before prosecution, how would first prosecute before investigation, if it takes so long to investigate, should not be rushed to file charges.
He said that for the first time, he had the “honor” to make a bail statement for the defendants in front of the designated magistrate of the National Security Law, and he thought that February 28, 2021 would definitely be recorded in the history of Hong Kong, seeing the first step in the decline of Hong Kong’s highly fair electoral system. and the spirit of the rule of law.
The first day after 14 hours of hearing, some defendants fainted from exhaustion
President Judge So Wai Tak let each defendant’s representative lawyer to apply for bail, until Monday evening after 9:30 pm, only five defendants completed the application for bail, the judge was scheduled to process bail applications overnight, during the defendants said that they did not eat dinner, the judge only approved a break for dinner.
On Tuesday (March 2) at about 2:30 a.m., one of the defendants, Eastern District Councilor Yang Xueying, fainted in the courtroom and needed to be sent to the hospital by ambulance. President Judge So Wai Tak said that the case was adjourned for about 9 hours to 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday, and the defendants were sent to the Correctional Services Department to be detained in the remand Home.
The defendants after about 14 hours of “marathon trial”, can only rest in the remand home for a few hours, Tuesday morning again by the prison bus escorted to the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Court to continue the bail application, during which one of the defendants 64-year-old former Legislative Council member of the League of Social Democrats Leung Kwok-hung is also unwell sent to the hospital, absent from the hearing.
Emily Lau criticizes legal scandal
More than 100 people lined up outside the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday morning waiting to enter the courtroom to observe the hearing.
The former Legislative Council member and former chairman of the Democratic Party, Emily Lau, was interviewed by the media and criticized the prosecution for ignoring procedural justice by charging 47 people at once and opposing the bail of the defendants, which led to a number of people fainting after a long trial.
This is why some people fainted, and some people did not feel well to go to the hospital, this seems to have become a scandal, that is, how can the legal profession appear such a thing? 47 people into the (court), those Family members, lawyers are not enough space to sit, do not talk about the public, and we have to one by one (the defendant on behalf of the lawyer) to have the opportunity to speak after the completion of that procedure, and then by the (judge) judge to sentence, and not ah, as if to speak a few (bail statements), and said forget it (postponed) to the end of May to come back (arraignment), there is no mistake ah, so they are locked up for 3 months, Hong Kong is not This is not how Hong Kong works, so I think it’s too much.”
Emily Lau responded that the National Security Law gives people the impression that most defendants are not eligible for bail, and she said that the trial under the National Security Law has attracted international attention.
Emily Liu said: “This national security law often we all feel that the presumption of innocence seems to be gone, because most people it (the court) will not allow you to have this parole (bail), but you have to go through the procedure, you catch so many people crowded together, and not enough time to speak (bail statements), and then say it is better not to say, first shut up, there is no mistake ah This is very bad, I believe that many people who support those (defendants) yesterday, the public, their families, the international community feel why Hong Kong has become such, without asking first shut up, to shut up a few months ah, no wonder some people do not feel faint ah, or sick ah.”
I hope the court to maintain the independence to adhere to procedural justice
Emily Lau said she hopes that Hong Kong people will not give up, do not feel discouraged, to continue to maintain the dignity to fight for democracy and freedom, while hoping that the court can maintain independence, adhere to procedural justice, fair and open hearing, in order to give confidence to the international community and the people of Hong Kong.
I hope that our lawyers, that is, on behalf of all (defendants) those lawyers in the (court) inside, and said that a lawyer (Monday night) was arrested, really I hope that those people (defendants) each have their own lawyers to help him, and have the opportunity to finish speaking about things to say, to complete the whole procedure, justice.”
The public criticized the marathon trial as mental abuse
Mr. Lin, a Hong Kong citizen who sat through the night in the courtroom, said in an interview with the Voice of America that he continues to support the 47 defendants with the same conviction as before, and that he thinks it is mental abuse for each defendant to undergo a marathon trial lasting up to 14 hours, causing someone to faint from exhaustion in the courtroom.
Mr. Lin said: “Under the tyranny of the Chinese Communist Party anything can happen, basically it is already clear that it is a ‘mental abuse’ to come, if there is really common sense, there is the so-called true rule of law, there will not be such an arrangement, knowingly, that Su so (judge) knowingly, so that is The ‘wheel warfare’ is a mess, it’s going to be a problem, it’s ‘inhumane’, it’s ‘very reasonable’, it’s a Chinese Communist Party’s usual way of dealing with dissidents. techniques.”
Mr. Lam also said that Hong Kong’s national security law completely contradicts the original rule of law and human rights norm in Hong Kong, and he described Hong Kong as having become “Berlin of the East”.
Mr. Lam said, “It (Beijing) is to completely break all the previous Hong Kong, Hong Kong people in general, the bottom line of human rights, the general norm, it (Beijing) the so-called ‘no place outside’, you see, by the entire (anti-sending) movement (police) into private places, into the shopping malls, into the This is very clear that Hong Kong is facing the Chinese Communist Party, the so-called Hong Kong is a ‘Berlin of the East’, and now it has come to this point, directly facing the oppression of the Chinese Communist Party’s total power and high pressure, the only way to go. Hong Kong people have no choice but to suffer this calamity. “
Eight defendants still have not completed their bail statements, and the case has been postponed.
The Swedish Deputy Consul General in Hong Kong, Joakim Ladeborn, also attended the court on Tuesday. He was interviewed by the media and said he was concerned about the implementation of the National Security Law in Hong Kong, so he went to the court for two consecutive days to understand the situation, and described Monday’s hearing as very long.
The 47 defendants’ bail applications were heard for about 10 hours on Tuesday, and the hearing was not completed until 10:00 p.m. President Judge So Wai-tak adjourned the hearing to Wednesday (March 3) at 11:00 a.m. to hear the last eight defendants’ bail statements, and the results of the bail applications are expected to be announced soon.
Two more defendants were sent to hospital for treatment before the court adjourned, while the rest continued to be escorted by the Correctional Services Department to the remand centre.
The defendants reported to the police station at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday and did not take a bath or change their clothes for three days and two nights on Tuesday, including underwear, and the defendants asked their defense lawyers to apply to the judge to bring a change of clothes to the scabbard house, but were refused.
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