Group of legislators, activists and community workers are accused of holding unofficial pre-election primaries that authorities say constitutes subversion
will begin on Monday, two years after many of the city’s most prominent government critics were first brought into custody.
“The whole case rests on hypothetical actions that the defendants might make in the future,” says William Nee, a researcher at US-based Chinese Human Rights Defenders. “It is a clear-cut violation of the right to run for public office under international law.” “It aims to intimidate the pro-democracy camp so they daren’t stay active as anything they do could constitute serious crime,” he says. “This is how Beijing’s political crackdown is reforming Hong Kong. And they will pull out all the stops to ensure there won’t be any voices of dissent.”
Days later, the Chinese government declared the primaries were illegal. Almost six months later, on the morning of 6 January 2021, police arrested dozens of organisers and participantsThe elections – which the 47 had hoped to win – were postponed, ostensibly because of Covid. They were eventually held after a “patriots only” overhaul of the electoral system which effectively made it impossible for opposition candidates to run and win.
Prosecutors allege that the pro-democracy figures’ were inspired by Tai, who was accused of manipulating the electoral system to undermine the government.
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