A Hong Kong appellate court is expected to rule in nine months’ time on appeals arising from the city’s largest national security trial, as lawyers wrapped up their verbal submissions on Thursday after 3½ days of hearings.
Advertisement
Legal counsel urged three Court of Appeal judges to impose lighter sentences on 11 appellants for what the trial court found to be their “active participation” in a subversive scheme to “undermine, destroy or overthrow” the government.
Prosecutors opposed the applications by highlighting the “unprecedented” nature of the conspiracy and the intended breach of legislators’ public duty, saying the appellants’ acts deserved stiff penalties under the national security law’s sentencing regime.
The appeal proceedings at West Kowloon Court arose from the high-profile case in which 45 of 47 defendants were convicted and jailed for at least four years and two months for conspiracy to subvert state power.
Three Court of First Instance judges ruled last year that the group, by organising and taking part in an unofficial “primary” election in July 2020, attempted to secure a controlling majority in the Legislative Council and create a “constitutional crisis” by indiscriminately blocking the government’s budgets.
Advertisement
Former lawmakers Helena Wong Pik-wan, Lam Cheuk-ting, Raymond Chan Chi-chuen and “Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung are seeking to overturn their convictions.