Share
April 01, 2021 Seven prominent members of the democracy movement in Hong Kong, including lawyer and former MP Martin Lee and media mogul Jimmy Lai, were found guilty of their involvement in an unauthorized protest in the former British colony.
The defendants were sentenced this morning after a four-week trial, along with two other people who had pleaded guilty.
In addition to Lee, 82, considered the father of the democracy movement in Hong Kong, and Lai - who is also facing a separate judicial path for alleged national security offenses - the other convicts are former MPs Margaret Ng and Cyd. Ho Sau-lan, lawyer Albert Ho Chun-yan, veteran activists Lee Cheuk-yan and "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung.
Former MPs Au-Nok-him and Leung Yiu-chung had pleaded guilty earlier.
The sentence refers to a demonstration on August 18, 2019, when about 1.7 million people marched peacefully, but against police orders.
The organizing committee, the Civil Human Rights Front, had been allowed to hold a demonstration in Victoria Park, but not a march, which began when crowds poured into the streets, occupying the main streets of the city to reach government offices a few miles away.
Contrary to many other protests in 2019, this march nevertheless remained peaceful.