The families of 12 people detained by mainland China for 3.5 months and accused of “border-crossing” held a press conference on Saturday (Dec. 12), asking the Chinese authorities to inform them of the date of the trial and whether their families could attend the hearing. The families also said they had received calls from government-appointed lawyers or letters from family members in custody asking them to confess to the charges in Hong Kong on behalf of the arrested men.
According to Hong Kong media reports, 12 detained Hong Kong people in the father of Li Zixian, said earlier received a new family letter, which mentioned that the family could not receive a letter back, and asked the family to appoint a lawyer in Hong Kong, on behalf of Li Zixian to admit the alleged charges in Hong Kong.
Li Zixian’s father also said that the Chinese official lawyer who claimed to represent Li Zixian had contacted him with the same request, but the other party refused to disclose the name and lawyer’s certificate. The family said it had repeatedly written to Li Zixian through the Immigration Department and the Guangdong office, questioning the SAR government’s failure to actually assist the family in forwarding the letter.
The family of another arrestee, Wong Wai-yin, said his government-appointed lawyer had repeatedly asked for details of the charges against him in Hong Kong, but also refused to confirm the lawyer’s identity, the report said. The other side also said Wong would handle the legal fees, but the family said Wong was penniless and questioned the credibility of the government-appointed lawyer’s claims.
The family of another detainee, Mr. Deng Kai-yin, said they were informed by the Bank of China that the personal account of Mr. Deng Kai-yin had to be cancelled for “commercial administrative reasons”, but that the money in the account would have to be collected by the detainee himself.
The families of the 12 Hong Kong residents also requested a meeting with the Secretary for Security and the Chief Secretary for Administration as soon as possible, and also requested the mainland authorities to announce the trial date as soon as possible, so that the families can reserve enough time for quarantine and hearing in the mainland.
The 12 Hong Kong people, aged between 16 and 30, 11 men and one woman, including Lee Yu-hin, a member of Hong Kong Story, were arrested by Hong Kong police on Aug. 10 for allegedly violating the “Hong Kong version of the National Security Law. They were all involved in the anti-China protest movement that began in June last year.
The 12 Hong Kong residents were allegedly smuggled to Taiwan on a speedboat on Aug. 23 and were intercepted by Guangdong Provincial Marine Police in waters southeast of Hong Kong and taken into custody at Yantian Detention Center in Shenzhen. Defense lawyers from mainland China appointed by their families were unable to meet with the 12 Hong Kong residents and were subjected to various forms of repression by the authorities. The Chinese and Hong Kong authorities insist that they have each accepted two government-appointed lawyers.
In late October, Radio Television Hong Kong reported that at least five law firms had been notified by the Chinese Ministry of Justice that they were prohibited from representing the 12 people in Shenzhen and that those already representing them had to withdraw from the case.
Earlier, a number of family members of the 12 Hong Kong people received letters from them, expressing regret for what they had done and advising them not to make trouble, not to accept media interviews, etc. A Hong Kong human rights organization said that the content of the 12 Hong Kong people’s letters is more or less the same, and it is suspected that they were written under the threat of the authorities, and it is expected that the 12 Hong Kong people will “be confessed” under the official arrangement, which is the usual practice of the Chinese Communist Party in dealing with dissidents.
The Yantian Branch of the Shenzhen Public Security Bureau announced on Nov. 27 that it had transferred the cases of the 12 people to the Yantian District People’s Procuratorate for review and prosecution. Hong Kong’s English-language The Standard earlier cited sources who predicted that the Shenzhen court may hold a trial for the 12 by mid-December.
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