Ex-leaders of disbanded Hong Kong alliance appeal subversion convictions
Two former leaders of the disbanded Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China have appealed their prison sentences and convictions for inciting subversion of state power under the national security law. The appeals follow a trial in which the group was fined HK$1.5 mil
Two former leaders of the disbanded Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China have launched appeals against their convictions and prison sentences for inciting subversion of state power under the national security law, the Court of Appeal confirmed.
Former chairman Lee Cheuk-yan filed an application on Monday seeking to overturn both his conviction and sentence, while former vice-chair Tonyee Chow Hang-tung lodged her appeal a day earlier. A third defendant, former vice-chair Albert Ho Chun-yan, who pleaded guilty before trial, has not filed an appeal.
The appeals stem from a high-profile national security trial involving four defendants: the disbanded alliance, Lee, Ho, and Chow. Following a full trial in August, designated national security judges Alex Lee Wan-tang, Johnny Chan Jong-herng, and Anna Lai Yuen-kee found the alliance, Lee, and Chow guilty, ruling the offense was of a serious nature. Ho had previously pleaded guilty.
The panel fined the alliance HK$1.5 million, sentenced Ho to five years and two months in prison, and handed down terms of seven years to Lee and seven years and three months to Chow.
The prosecution centered on conduct between July 1, 2020, and September 8, 2021, accusing the defendants of inciting others to organize, plan, execute, or participate in illegal means to overthrow or undermine the fundamental system established by the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, or to overthrow the central state authority.
Specifically, authorities targeted the group's long-standing operational goal of ending one-party rule by the Chinese Communist Party, which prosecutors asserted directly violated the Chinese constitution.