Hong Kong: Jimmy Lai and two other activists sentenced for vigil commemorating Tiananmen

Published on : 12/09/2021 – 08:27

Hong Kong press mogul Jimmy Lai and two other pro-democracy activists were sentenced on Thursday, December 9 for their participation, on June 4, 2020, in a banned rally that paid tribute to the victims of the Chinese power’s murderous crackdown in 1989 on the Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

Jimmy Lai, 74, owner of the now-closed pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, former journalist Gwyneth Ho and human rights lawyer Chow Hang-tung were convicted of, among other things, incitement and participation in an illegal gathering. The sentences will be pronounced Monday.

The authorities have indicted around 20 politicians and pro-democracy activists. Jimmy Lai and his co-defendants, Chow Hang-tung and Gwyneth Ho, are the last to know their verdict, as they had pleaded not guilty. They claimed that they had gone to light candles in their personal capacity and had not “instigated” others to join a banned gathering.

Already behind bars

Wanchai District Court Judge Amanda Woodcock rejected these arguments. “The reality is that any intention to go out and participate in the candlelight vigil in Victoria Park that night was an act of defiance and protest against the police,” the judge said.

Jimmy Lai, Chow Hang-tung and Gwyneth Ho are already behind bars, like dozens of other activists, and face separate prosecutions under strict National Security Law.

“The Hong Kong government has once again flouted international law by condemning activists simply for participating in a peaceful vigil,” Amnesty International said in a statement. “People should be free to mourn and peacefully remember the victims of the Tiananmen crackdown – and prosecuting people for this is a blatant attack on the rights to freedom of expression and assembly,” the NGO added. .

For more than three decades, every June 4, tens of thousands of people gathered in Victoria Park to participate in vigils in commemoration of the bloody crackdown in 1989 on Tiananmen Square. These rallies, during which slogans in favor of democracy in China were chanted, had become one of the symbols of the political freedoms enjoyed by the semi-autonomous territory.

This year, Beijing has made it clear that these commemorations will no longer be tolerated in Hong Kong or Macau. A few months ago, sixteen political leaders and activists, including Joshua Wong, the most famous face of the Hong Kong protest, were sentenced to six to ten months’ imprisonment for their participation in 2020 in this vigil, and a few received suspended sentences.

Opponents see the ban on vigils and legal proceedings as a way for China to leave its authoritarian mark on Hong Kong, after the huge and often violent pro-democracy protests of 2019.

In June 2020, Beijing imposed a draconian national security law on the city, aimed in particular at criminalizing any dissent. More than 70 people have been charged under the legislation, and more than 140 have been arrested, including Jimmy Lai, Chow Hang-tung and Gwyneth Ho.

With AFP