Media mogul Jimmy Lai found guilty of his involvement in pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong

Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai convicted this Thursday with six other former opposition members organize and participate in an unauthorized anti-government demonstration.

West Kowloon court found on Thursday that Lai and Martin Lee (known as “the father of democracy in Hong Kong”), Leung Kwok-hung (“long hair”), Lee Cheuk-yan, Albert Ho, Cyd Ho Sau-lan and Margaret Ng organized and participated at a demonstration not knowingly approved by the police.

In addition to them, the former deputies At Nok-hi y Leung Yiu-chung, also part of the same case, pleaded guilty on February 16.

The sentence of at least the first 7 defendants will be announced then April 16.

All defendants except Lai and “Pelolargo” (currently in preventive detention on other charges) will be released on bail provided they do not leave Hong Kong and submit all their travel documents.

The aforementioned demonstration took place on Aug 18, 2019, the day a concentration was authorized in the city center Victoria park, which led to a march that defense attorneys justified by saying their clients intended to avoid the crowds and that’s why they told people to leave the compound.

This demonstration was framed in the wave of anti-government protests that took place in Hong Kong in the second half of 2019 following a controversial extradition bill that, according to several critical sectors of the regime, this would have opened the door to the extradition of Hong Kong residents to mainland China for trial there under a system without guarantees.

Before the demonstration that led to these convictions, the Civil Front for Human Rights requested authorization March 3.8 kilometers between Victoria Park and the city’s central district.

Police only allowed one concentration in the park, but organizers decided to continue with the original plan and indicated that figures known to the movement, such as those now convicted, would assist in the safe evacuation to nearby metro stations.

The organizers assured that the demonstration had gathered 1.7 million people.

The guilty plea for Lai and the 6 other former Hong Kong MPs and activists comes the same week that China approved a electoral reform of the territory which will further limit the options of the opposition to access the machinery of government of the former British colony and serve to strengthen Beijing’s hand in the management of the territory.

Last year, and in response to the protest movement that took to the streets of Hong Kong in the second half of 2019, the Chinese Legislature designed and imposed a controversial national security law that provides for sentences of up to life imprisonment for cases of secession, terrorism or collusion with foreign forces.

Since its entry into force on June 30, 2020, the freedoms enjoyed by Hong Kong have rapidly eroded.

(With information from EFE)

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