Hong Kong 47: ‘Nothing wrong’ in voting for change, says ex-medics’ union chair Winnie Yu
Hong Kong Free Press
The former chairperson of a pro-democracy medics’ union who was convicted of subversion under the Beijing-imposed national security law has maintained that there was “nothing wrong” in seeking to use her vote in the legislature to bring about change.
Winnie Yu, 37, was the chair of the Hospital Authority Employee Alliance, which was formed during the 2019 protests and disbanded in June 2022. She is among 45 pro-democracy figures convicted of conspiring to commit subversion over an unofficial primary election held in July 2020, which aimed to help the opposition camp win a majority in the city’s legislature.
The court ruled in May that the election was part of a larger subversion scheme that aimed to indiscriminately veto the government budget, which would have created “a constitutional crisis.”
Yu, who pleaded not guilty and was found guilty after the 118-day trial, participated in the primary election’s healthcare constituency. She entered the dock on Thursday morning wearing a tan cardigan over a black top.
Barrister Randy Shek, representing Yu, began by introducing the activist firstly as a frontline nurse who progressed to clinical care and, later, intensive care nursing. “That already is a stressful, heavily responsible, and noble vocation for a young woman,” Shek added.
“Looking at her university training and career path – and even later when she was involved in union activities during Covid in 2019 – there is a very common theme in her work, and that is public service,” Shek said.
‘I love Hong Kong too much’
Shek read out the former union leader’s mitigation letter, in which she maintained that she had done nothing wrong in attempting to run for the legislature.
She cited the Hong Kong government’s failure to contain community outbreaks during the Covid-19 pandemic as one the reasons she had hoped to stand for election, adding that it was “unheard of in other democratic countries” to be accused of subverting state power for attempting to run in legislative elections.
The ex-unionist was compassionate by nature, Shek added. But unfortunately, “because of the uncertainty of the law at the time, [Yu] had fallen on the wrong side of the line.”
“Even now, I am still of the view that there is nothing wrong in bringing changes to the established order through voting in the legislature. Perhaps the only wrong I have committed was that I love Hong Kong too much,” Shek read from Yu’s mitigation letter, before he was cut off by judge Andrew Chan.
The judge said Yu’s statement was “not a mitigation letter at all,” bearing no indication of remorse from the former unionist.
Judges Alex Lee and Johnny Chan joined in, with the latter saying he had “no problem” with the letter – which he called a “political statement” – being read out in the street. “Just not in my court,” Chan said.
Shek asked the court to consider Yu as an “other participant” in the subversion conspiracy, reflecting the lowest tier of offence under the subversion law stipulated in the Beijing-imposed security legislation.
According to the law, a principal offender or a person who commits an offence of a grave nature faces up to life in prison. An active participant in the offence is subject to a jail sentence between three and five years. Other participants face a “fixed term imprisonment of not more than three years, short-term detention or restriction.”
Jimmy Sham
It was revealed on Thursday that Au Nok-hin, who pleaded guilty to the subversion charge and became a witness for the prosecution, had written a mitigation letter for activist Jimmy Sham whose mitigation pleas were also heard on Thursday.
Au said Sham believed in non-violence, and that he had opposed indiscriminately vetoing the budget on behalf of the pro-democracy League of Social Democrats at a coordination meeting for the Kowloon West primaries.
Sham’s position was decisive in preventing the vetoing of the financial package from becoming a consensus at the conference, the ex-activist’s lawyer Douglas Kwok quoted Au as saying.
Kwok also said that Sham had a track record of being cooperative and seeking permission from the police when organising rallies in 2019, an indication that he had learned from his 2012 conviction over an unauthorised assembly.
Sham, sporting a grown-out side part and wearing a navy T-shirt, waved at the public gallery as he was escorted out of the dock.
Mitigation for the next batch of defendants is scheduled to begin on July 30.
Beijing inserted national security legislation directly into Hong Kong’s mini-constitution in June 2020 following a year of pro-democracy protests and unrest. It criminalised subversion, secession, collusion with foreign forces and terrorist acts – broadly defined to include disruption to transport and other infrastructure. The move gave police sweeping new powers and led to hundreds of arrests amid new legal precedents, while dozens of civil society groups disappeared. The authorities say it restored stability and peace to the city, rejecting criticism from trade partners, the UN and NGOs.
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