Next month, the fate of forty-five out of 47 Hong Kong opposition activists involved in a landmark national security trial will be determined, as the court has scheduled the sentencing hearing for November 19. Only two defendants were acquitted in the High Court trial in May, while 14 others were convicted of conspiracy to subvert state power under the 2020 Beijing-imposed national security law. The remaining 31 pleaded guilty before the trial began.
The activists were found guilty of attempting to secure a controlling majority in the Legislative Council through the 2020 unofficial primary, with the aim of voting against the government’s budget and ousting then leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor after the social unrest in the previous year. Beijing has established a three-tier system for classifying offenders convicted of subversion.