By South China Morning Post | Created at 2024-11-19 01:46:19 | Updated at 2024-11-19 04:25:05
2 hours ago
Crowds gathered have overnight awaiting a Hong Kong court to hand down sentences on 45 opposition politicians and activists convicted for conspiring to subvert state power using an unofficial “primary” election four years ago, as the landmark national security trial draws to a close.
All eyes are on how the three judges, all hand-picked by the city leader to hear such cases, will decide jail terms in the city’s first subversion case under the Beijing-decreed national security law.
More than 200 people, including friends and families of the convicted, queued up outside the West Kowloon Law Courts Building on Tuesday morning – with some arriving days in advance – for public gallery seats for the finale of what also became the city’s largest and longest-running prosecution under the sweeping legislation.
Police also stepped up their presence in the area as officers searched activists who were in the queue for a seat inside the court.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Andrew Kan Kai-yan and Chief Superintendent Steve Li Kwai-wah inspected the scene shortly before 9am.
Diplomats from the United States, Britain, the European Union, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Ireland and Australia also arrived to attend the sentencing hearing.
