A Hong Kong court has started hearing appeals lodged by 11 opposition figures jailed for conspiracy to subvert state power following the city’s largest national security trial, while the government is seeking to overturn a defendant’s acquittal in the high-profile case.
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Legal counsel for the 11 appellants on Monday urged an appellate court to refrain from adjudicating on “political matters”, saying that any “peaceful” attempt to force the government to accede to a political agenda should be allowed in a democratic society.
They also challenged the trial court’s interpretation of the national security law in the high-profile case involving 47 activists and contended that the exercise of lawmakers’ veto powers could not amount to “unlawful means” that enabled a subversive act.
Meanwhile, prosecutors applied to quash the acquittal of one of the accused by highlighting what they said was the “perversity” of the trial court’s conclusion that he was not a party to the scheme.
More than 100 police officers were stationed at West Kowloon Court for the first oral hearing in the case’s appeal proceedings.
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Three Court of First Instance judges last year convicted 14 of 16 defendants who denied plotting to paralyse the government through their involvement in an unofficial legislative “primary” election in July 2020. The trial ran for 118 days from February to December 2023.