Hong Kong, March 12 (ANI): Three former organizers of Hong Kong’s annual vigil in remembrance of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown on pro-democracy protests have been jailed on Saturday for four-and-a-half months after they have been convicted of not complying with a nationwide safety police information request, reported Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP).
Chow Hang-tung, Tang Ngok-kwan, and Tsui Hon-kwong have been convicted for failing to adjust to a discover from nationwide safety police demanding info. They have been leaders of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China and have been discovered responsible final week.
They appeared on the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts in entrance of Principal Magistrate Peter Law, one of many metropolis’s handpicked nationwide safety judges, reported HKFP.
The now-defunct alliance was greatest identified for organizing candlelight vigils in Hong Kong on the anniversary of the 1989 China navy’s crushing of Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests, nevertheless it voted to disband in 2021 beneath the shadow of the Beijing-imposed nationwide safety regulation.
Two different defendants, Simon Leung and Chan To-wai, pleaded responsible and have been sentenced to a few months in jail, reported HKFP.
According to the implementation guidelines of the Beijing-imposed nationwide safety regulation, after receiving approval from the secretary for safety, the police chief can subject a discover to international political teams and their brokers demanding info together with monetary data.
Law dominated final week that the police discover issued to the Alliance was authorized and that it was essential to demand info from the group.
In her mitigation submission, Chow mentioned that the Alliance was not a international agent, and that “nothing has emerged in this year-long ordeal that proves otherwise.””To sentence us in such circumstances is about punishing people for defending the truth,” Chow mentioned.
Handing down the sentences, principal Justice of the Peace Peter Law mentioned the case is the primary of its form beneath the brand new regulation and the sentencing has to ship a transparent message to society that the regulation doesn’t condone any violation.
Law, who was authorized by town’s chief to supervise the case, mentioned he noticed no justification for lowering the four-and-a-half-month sentence, reported Nikkei Asia.
The Tiananmen crackdown occurred on June 4, 1989, ending months of student-led demonstrations in China. It is estimated that lots of, maybe hundreds, died when the People’s Liberation Army cracked down on protesters in Beijing. (ANI)