Hong Kong Court rejects Jimmy Lai’s and 6 other’s attempt to overturn convictions
The defendants’ argument that British-style ‘proportionality’ and the absence of violence at the 2019 rally should be considered was rejected by the judges.
Hong Kong’s highest court on Monday denied a plea to overturn the convictions of seven prominent pro-democracy activists, including media magnate Jimmy Lai, for their involvement in the 2019 protests.
Lai, aged 76, the founder of the now-closed liberal newspaper Apple Daily; Martin Lee, aged 86, the founding chairman of Hong Kong’s Democratic Party; and five other activists were found guilty in 2021 for their roles in an illegal assembly in August 2019, when almost 2 million individuals gathered on the streets.
A lower court had overturned their convictions for organizing the rally last year but upheld their convictions for participating in it.
The defendants had argued that the trial judge should have conducted an “operational proportionality” assessment to determine if their conviction aligned with human rights protections.
This principle is outlined in two non-binding decisions of the UK’s Supreme Court. The defendants also contended that the judge should have taken into account that “the event did not result in violence.”
A panel of five judges at the Court of Final Appeal unanimously dismissed the defendants’ argument on August 12, stating that their assertion was “unsustainable” and “unsupported by legal authority.”
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Chief Justice Andrew Cheung and Judge Roberto Ribeiro stated in the primary judgment that the UK court’s decisions should not be applied in Hong Kong due to differing legal systems in the two territories.
“A separate proportionality inquiry in relation to arrest, prosecution, conviction, and sentence is inappropriate and uncalled for,” it added.
The 2019 pro-democracy demonstrations were sparked by Beijing’s increasing restrictions on the broad freedoms guaranteed to Hong Kong upon its transfer to Chinese control in 1997. The protests plunged the semi-autonomous city into its most significant crisis since the handover.
The other defendants include Margaret Ng, aged 73; Lee Cheuk-yan, aged 64; Albert Ho, aged 69; Leung Kwok-hung, aged 65; and Ho Chun-yan, aged 66.
Lai, a British national, has been in solitary confinement since December 2020. He is serving a sentence of five years and nine months for breaching a lease contract for the newspaper’s headquarters.
Following the protests, Beijing implemented an extensive national security law that punishes what the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) broadly defines as secession, subversion, terrorism, and collusion with foreign powers. Punishments can include life imprisonment.
The CCP’s national security law has been criticized by democratic governments worldwide and human rights organizations as a means to suppress dissent in the semi-autonomous city.
Reuters contributed to this report.
