Hong Kong’s top court upholds convictions of 7 prominent pro-democracy activists over 2019 protest

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong’s top court on Monday upheld the convictions of seven of Hong Kong’s most prominent pro-democracy activists over their roles in one of the biggest anti-government protests in 2019.

Jimmy Lai, founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper; Martin Lee, the founding chairman of the city’s Democratic Party; and five former pro-democracy lawmakers were found guilty in 2021 of organizing and participating in an unauthorized assembly.

Their convictions dealt a blow to the city’s flagging pro-democracy movement during a political crackdown on dissidents following the protests.

Last year, the activists partially won their appeal at a lower court, with their convictions quashed over the charge of organizing an unauthorized assembly. But their convictions over taking part in the assembly were upheld and they continued their legal battle at the city’s top court.

On Monday, judges at the Court of Final Appeal unanimously ruled against their appeal over the remaining convictions.

The defendants previously argued that the trial judge had failed to conduct an “operational proportionality” assessment when convicting them and quoted two non-binding decisions set out by the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. The defense also suggested the judge should have taken into account that the procession did not become violent.

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But Chief Justice Andrew Cheung and Justice Roberto Ribeiro said in their written judgment that the two British cases should not be adopted in the city’s courts because the frameworks for human rights challenges in the two jurisdictions are different.

They ruled that the defendants’ proposition was “unsustainable” and “is contrary to all established principles governing constitutional challenges in Hong Kong.”

“A separate proportionality inquiry in relation to arrest, prosecution, conviction and sentence is inappropriate and un-called for,” they wrote.

After the court handed down its decision, barrister Margaret Ng, one of the defendants, declined to comment before reading the judgment.

“We just want to take this occasion to thank our legal teams, and all the people who have been supporting us all the time,” she said.

The convictions were linked to their involvement in a rally in August 2019 that drew an estimated 1.7 million people onto Hong Kong’s streets to call for greater police accountability and democracy. The march was relatively peaceful compared to other protests that often morphed into violent clashes between police and protesters that year.

Hong Kong, a former British colony, returned to China in 1997. Its mini-constitution, the Basic Law, guarantees its people freedom of assembly.

When sentencing the seven activists in 2021, the trial judge at the District Court ruled that the right to such freedom is not absolute and is subject to restrictions ruled constitutional. She ordered Lai, Lee Cheuk-yan, Leung Kwok-hung and Cyd Ho to be jailed between eight and 18 months. Martin Lee, Ng and Albert Ho were given suspended jail sentences.

When the appellate court partially overturned their convictions in 2023, it quashed part of the sentences for the four who were given jail terms on the record. The decision was made after they already served out their sentences.

Lai, Lee Cheuk-yan, Leung and Albert Ho still remained in custody as they were also prosecuted or convicted under a Beijing-imposed national security law, which critics said has all but wiped out public dissent. Lai was also serving a prison term for a separate fraud case.

The Beijing and Hong Kong governments said the security law was necessary to bring back stability to the city following the protests.

The city government welcomed the judgement in a statement on Monday night, insisting its residents enjoy the right to peaceful assembly and that it must be exercised in conformity with the law.

The movement five years ago was the city’s most concerted challenge to the Hong Kong government since the 1997 handover. It waned with massive arrests and exiles of democracy activists, the COVID-19 pandemic and the introduction of the security law.