The case of 12 Hong Kong nationals detained at the Shenzhen Yantian Detention center for nearly four months on charges of organizing others to sneak across the border and illegally crossing the border took a new turn on Wednesday.
The Procuratorate of Yantian district in Shenzhen on Wednesday issued a public announcement on its Weibo account, formally indicting 10 of them. The other two juvenile suspects, Liao Ziwen and Huang Linfu, will be given a closed hearing at a later date, “and a decision will be made according to law”.
Among them, Deng Qi Ran and Qiao Yingyu were charged with suspicion of “organizing others to sneak across the border”; Cheng Zihao, Yan Wenqian, Zhang Mingyu, Zhang Junfu, Huang Weilan, Li Zixian, Li Yuxuan and Guo Zilin are suspected of “smuggling across the border”.
The 12 hong Kongers, aged between 16 and 30, who are being held in Shenzhen, were involved in anti-deportation campaigns last year, including The arrest by Hong Kong police on Aug. 10 of Li Yuxuan, a Hong Kong Story member suspected of violating Hong Kong’s version of the country’s national Security law. On August 23, 12 people (11 men and 1 woman) were arrested by the Coast guard of Guangdong Province in the southeast waters of Hong Kong and sent to the Yantian Detention Center in Shenzhen, where they were suspected of being smuggled to Taiwan in a speedboat.
While in detention, some family members have hired mainland Chinese lawyers for them, but have never been able to arrange meetings. Officials say they have chosen two appointed lawyers from a list provided by the authorities, but some families are still reluctant to accept and are continuing to try to meet. A number of family lawyers have been summoned by officials to withdraw from the case.
A number of families of 12 Hong Kong people have recently received letters from them expressing regret for what they have done and advising them not to make trouble and not to give interviews to the media. Human rights groups in Hong Kong said the letters from the 12 people in Hong Kong were similar in content and were suspected to have been written under threat from the authorities. The 12 are expected to be “confessed” under official arrangements, as the Communist Party routinely treats dissidents.
The group released a statement on behalf of their families via its Facebook page On Wednesday, calling for a public hearing and lawyers commissioned by the families to defend the case. The families of the 12 have filed four appeals with the Shenzhen authorities, including providing them with indictments to understand the grounds of the charges against the 12; Attorneys appointed by family members to meet and represent the 12 Hong Kong residents and participate in their defence process; Asking the court to hear the case in public; And requiring families to be informed of the date of the hearing in advance, and to be allowed to enter Shenzhen to attend the court without having to be quarantined for 14 days.
Radio Hong Kong reported Wednesday that Deng Qi LAN’s brother, interviewed by the station, said shenzhen authorities had not notified families, and official lawyers usually did not contact families. His brother said he doesn’t know the date of the trial, but hopes to try to come to Shenzhen to see his brother in person if circumstances permit.
According to Hong Kong’s Apple Daily, Zou Shintong, a Hong Kong barrister and vice chairman of a branch association assisting the families of the 12 Hong Kongers, said that under Chinese law, a trial usually takes two to three months. However, she also pointed out that China traditionally hears political cases during the Christmas period, which does not attract much attention in the West. Even in public trials, China arranges for many of its own people to attend, preventing family members and other media from attending on the grounds that there are “no seats.”
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