A Hong Kong court has fined media entrepreneur Lai and six pro-democracy activists. They were found guilty in 2021 of organizing an unannounced gathering. Nevertheless, Lai must remain in custody.
A Hong Kong appeals court has overturned the convictions of media mogul Jimmy Lai and six other pro-democracy activists in the city. However, the penalties had already been served.
The court found insufficient evidence that Lai and the founding leader of the Democratic Party, Martin Lee, and five former MPs had organized unauthorized gatherings at the height of pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong in the summer of 2019. It upheld the guilty verdicts for taking part in the protests.
Four of the activists had been sentenced to between eight and 18 months in prison for organizing and taking part in the protests, while Lee and two others received suspended sentences.
Judge Andrew Macrae has now ruled that the fact that the convicts led the march did not prove that they had organized it. Therefore, the penalties imposed would be lifted. However, he maintained the guilty verdict for taking part in the protests.
1.7 million people came to the demonstration
Nonetheless, four activists remain in prison despite their partial acquittal for other alleged crimes against the state – including Lai, who was sentenced to another multi-year prison term just in December. The founder of the now defunct pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily is one of the best-known representatives of the Hong Kong democracy movement.
In the meantime, however, this has been brought to a de facto standstill by the authorities with massive pressure. At the August 2019 demonstration, an estimated 1.7 million people had called for more democracy and greater police accountability. The protest was comparatively peaceful.
Hundreds of arrests since 2020
In 2020, Beijing passed a so-called security law that enabled the authorities to take draconian action against the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong. As a result, hundreds of pro-democracy activists were arrested or fled into exile.
The 2021 sentencing of the seven prominent activists, including lawyers, former MPs and trade unionists, was seen as the first major blow to freedom of assembly in Hong Kong under new legislation from China.