A judge in Hong Kong held 47 pro-democracy activists charged under the city’s draconian national security law in custody after a four-day hearing marathon deemed chaotic and farcical.
Thirty-two defendants were denied bail by the chief magistrate, Victor So, while 15 received bail, but are still in custody after government prosecutors said they would appeal against the decision.
The group was charged on Sunday with conspiracy to commit subversion over an unofficial primary vote last year, in the broadest action taken against the city’s pro-democracy camp since the national security law was implemented last June.
Thus, all 47 cases were processed in a single bail hearing that began on Monday with a session that lasted until 3 am and continued throughout the week. He also denied requests to lift the reporting restrictions, which means that only the decision and the relevant names can be published, and not the arguments presented for or against granting bail.
With the 47 detainees in custody, most of Hong Kong’s leading pro-democracy figures will now be in prison or self-exile abroad, amid continued repression of dissent in the semi-autonomous Chinese city.
There were thrilling scenes in the West Kowloon courthouse, while some cried inside the chambers and others embraced outside. One person was outside the courthouse with a yellow umbrella, a symbol of the movement for democracy, and a banner that said, “Free all political prisoners.”
“We are not surprised at the failure of today’s bail application,” said Po-ying Chan, the wife of one of the prominent defendants who was denied bail, “Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung. “This proved that under NSL [national security law], the legal system has been distorted and turned upside down ”.
The 15 defendants who received bail must appear for another hearing within 48 hours in the upper court. For the others, the process was postponed until May 31.
Prosecutors had asked for a delay of at least three months to give them time to investigate further and opposed bail for any defendant. The defense was opposed, questioning why charges were made and the defendants arrested if the case was so far from ready.
The drafting of the national security law makes it extremely difficult for anyone accused of being entitled to bail. Media magnate Jimmy Lai, who is facing trial for alleged foreign collusion in a separate case, has been in and out of court contesting his denial of bail so far without success.
Fifty-five people were arrested in the January primaries, drawing international condemnation and skepticism even from some pro-Beijing politicians, who noted that the primaries were a common feature of both sides in Hong Kong politics.
The authorities claimed that the 47 planned to select candidates who could win a majority of the 70 seats on the legislative council and then indiscriminately block legislation to “paralyze” parliament and force the resignation of the chief executive. Authorities have not said whether they intend to prosecute the remaining eight, including American lawyer John Clancey.
The processing of the case was widely criticized as chaotic, farcical and judicially unfair. Over the four-day hearing, five defendants were taken to the hospital by ambulance and several complained about the lack of access to their lawyers.
Reports said that some defendants were back in their cells for less than three hours on Tuesday morning after 3 am on Monday’s hearing before they were returned to the court, and the lawyers did not have time to bathe or change.
On Wednesday night, several defendants withdrew their lawyers, wanting to make further allegations in their own name, which were heard on Thursday. The content of your statements is covered by reporting restrictions.
“The judicial system should never have organized such a chaotic judicial review that it made Hong Kong’s previously revered judicial system look like a voluntary instrument of the police and prosecutors,” Prof Jerome Cohen, a China expert at New York University School of Law , wrote on a blog on Thursday.
More than 1,000 supporters gathered outside the courtroom on the first day, calling for the release of the prisoners and chanting now illegal protest slogans. The police issued a series of fines for violating pandemic collection laws. Among those present were foreign diplomats and human rights groups who are monitoring the case amid growing concerns that Hong Kong’s judicial system is being degraded.
“We haven’t seen anything like this before. It’s usually very fast … It’s very strange, ”said David Costello, Consul General of Ireland in Hong Kong, who was in court, about the length of the hearings. “It is a test of what is going to happen in Hong Kong.”
Foreign governments and human rights groups have condemned the moves to sue the group, but officials in Hong Kong and Beijing have remained unapologetic.
On Thursday, the American right-wing thinktank Heritage Foundation said it would no longer include Hong Kong in its index of economic freedom, because “developments in recent years have unequivocally demonstrated that [Hong Kong’s economic] policies are ultimately controlled by Beijing ”. Hong Kong led the list for 25 years, until 2019.
Reuters contributed to this report