45 jailed democrats: 3 more seek to challenge convictions and sentences in landmark subversion case
Hong Kong Free Press
Three more Hong Kong democrats are seeking to challenge their convictions and sentences in Hong Kong’s largest national security case, which ended with the jailing of 45 prominent pro-democracy figures.
Gordon Ng, Lam Cheuk-ting and Michael Pang have separately applied to the Court of Appeal for leave to appeal, two weeks after the High Court imposed sentences on the 45 ranging from four years and two months to 10 years, local media reported.
The 45 democrats were charged, along with two acquitted in May, in early 2021 with subversion under the national security law, over their involvement in a primary election in July 2020 that aimed to help the pan-democrats seize a majority in upcoming Legislative Council elections.
The court ruled that the democrats, had they won a majority, intended to abuse their powers to indiscriminately veto the government budget and force the chief executive to resign. This would have plunged the city into a “constitutional crisis,” they ruled.
Ng, a political novice and an Australian national, was jailed for seven years and three months, one of the longest sentences.
Ng was considered an “active participant” in the primary election in which he initiated a “Say No to Primary Dodgers” campaign, which urged people not to vote for LegCo hopefuls who had not taken part in the primary.
Lam, a former legislator and a member of the Democratic Party, was sentenced to six years and nine months in jail.
Lam was also involved in another trial linked to the 2019 protests and unrest. On July 21 that year, a key date during the protests, he was among dozens injured in an attack by a group of white-clad people in Yuen Long. He was later charged with rioting as prosecutors alleged that his presence had instigated the conflict. The court will rule on the case next Thursday.
Michael Pang, a young entrepreneur and activist, received six years and six months imprisonment.
During the trial, Pang’s lawyer described him as patriotic and said he had worked for the pro-establishment Basic Law Foundation after his arrest in June 2019 in another case, promoting national security. But the judges questioned whether Pang only became “patriotic” after his arrest and accused him of being “an opportunist masquerading as a patriot.”
Appeal bids by another five democrats
In late November, five other democrats lodged bids to appeal against their convictions and sentences – activist Owen Chow, former lawmaker Helena Wong, ex-district councillor Clarisse Yeung, former union leader Winnie Yu and journalist-turned-activist Gwyneth Ho.
As an initiator of an online petition to rally “radical” candidates, Chow received the second longest prison term of seven years and nine months.
Yu was sentenced to six years and nine months, while Wong and Yeung were both jailed for six and a half years.
Ho was jailed for seven years. She had testified that she would “absolutely” veto the government budget had she become a lawmaker.
“What [Ho] really wanted was a completely new political system and structure, as she said repeatedly that the existing one had been dysfunctional and [was] unable to serve the people of Hong Kong,” the judges said in their ruling.
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