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

HONG KONG — 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. Last year, the activists partially won their appeal at a lower court, with their convictions quashed over the charge of organizing an unauthorized assembly. On Monday, judges at the Court of Final Appeal unanimously ruled against their appeal over the remaining convictions. 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. “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. Hong Kong, a former British colony, returned to China in 1997. 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. 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. 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. 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. – This Summarize was created by Neural News AI (V1). Source: https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/7-prominent-hong-kong-activists-fail-overturn-convictions-112767401