Media mogul Jimmy Lai and other pro-democracy Hong Kong activists convicted of calling for protests against Beijing

Several prominent pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong were today sentenced to 18 months in prison for calling for an unauthorized protest in October 2019., reports the local press.

According to public television RTHK, the most severe penalties were for former MPs Albert Ho, Lee Cheuk-yan and “Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung and for Figo Chan, coordinator of the Civil Front for Human Rights, an organization that called some of the most massive protests during the 2019 anti-government protests.

The four opponents were sentenced to 18 months for inciting to participate in an unauthorized protest on Chinese National Day (October 1) 2019 and an additional 18 months for his organization, although the sentences will be served at the same time. a year and a half, according to the independent Hong Kong Free Press portal.

Another of these convicts is the tycoon Jimmy Lai, owner of a critical media in Beijing., who received an additional sentence – he has been in prison for several months – of 14 months, of which 6 will be served simultaneously with his previous sentence, thus extending his stay in prison to 20 months.

Lai, 72, entered jail after being charged with “conspiracy with foreign forces” under the security law that Beijing imposed on the city in June 2020, which includes terms of up to jail for life.

The businessman was also charged with “conspiracy to obstruct the course of justice” for allegedly aiding one of the twelve Hong Kong people captured in China in 2020 as they tried to flee to Taiwan., and had previously been sentenced in April to 12 and 8 months in prison – which were combined into a 14-month sentence – for participating in two protests in August 2019.

Former MPs Cyd Ho and Yeung Sum, as well as former president of the Pro-Democracy League of Social Democrats, Avery Ng, will also spend 14 months in prison.

Finally, former MP Sin Chung-kai and activist Richard Tsoi, from the Alliance for Support in Hong Kong organization to the Chinese Patriotic and Democratic Movements, were also sentenced to 14 months, but in their case, they will not be imprisoned because the sentence is suspended for two years.

The 10 convicted today had pleaded guilty to organizing the demonstration, in which thousands of demonstrators took part despite the police ban.

Ng and Tsoi also admitted to participating in the rally, while Chan, Lee, Leung and Ho pleaded guilty to inciting participation.

During the event, radical protesters erected barricades and set Chinese flags on fire, in addition to throwing Molotov cocktails and vandalizing metro stations, government offices and shops.

For their part, the riot police resorted to the then usual gunfire, rubber bullets, tear gas, pepper spray and dyed water cannons.

The judge who handed down the sentence today explained that his decision had a “deterrent and corrective” aspect and that although some of the defendants demanded that the demonstration be peaceful, was not a “realistic” idea given the tension that was experienced during the second half of 2019 in the former British colony.

With information from EFE

KEEP READING: