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The founder of the Apple Daily newspaper, a media opposing the current pro-Beijing government, was sentenced along with other activists and politicians for provoking a meeting, in 2020, to commemorate the Tiananmen massacre, reaching an approximate of 20 people convicted. According to the local press, the court will report the sentence on December 13. Amnesty International repudiated this resolution: “People should have the freedom to peacefully remember the victims,” they said in a statement.
This Thursday, the case against businessman Jimmy Lai and other activists and politicians advanced for inciting social participation in an unauthorized vigil by the Hong Kong leaders, which had the objective of commemorating the Tiananmen massacre, the protest of Chinese students that had place in 1989 and that left an approximate balance of 300 deaths.
From 1999 to 2019, the Hong Kong Alliance together with the Democratic Patriotic Movements of China (HKA) organized non-stop commemorative and respectful events for those killed by the Army in Tiananmen Square.
Lai, founder of the defunct opposition newspaper Apple Daily, was sentenced, but the sentence will only be announced by the court on December 13, according to local media. The activist has been in prison for several months after his arrest in 2020, the first year in which he was prohibited from remembering the victims of the 1989 massacre.
The police considered that this mobilization violated preventive measures against the coronavirus. Along with Lai, former journalist Gwyneth Ho and lawyer Chow Hang-Tung were also punished, both for “participating in an unauthorized meeting” and for “knowingly taking part”, respectively.
Amnesty International spoke out about these events and condemned them, noting that the Hong Kong authorities are making “extreme efforts” to abuse the laws and press charges.
Through a statement, AI stated that “the authorities considered the vigil as ‘illegal’ because the police did not approve it, but a peaceful assembly does not need authorization.” In addition, they highlighted the condition of freedom that citizens must have to carry out the peaceful reminder to the victims: “Prosecuting those who do so is a fierce attack on the right to freedom of expression.”
With the resolutions of this Thursday, there are already around 20 those punished for their participation in the vigil last year. Among them is a reference like Joshua Wong, who was one of those who led the mobilizations in 2019 to request more democratic methods in Hong Kong.
Others went into exile, such as former legislator Nathan Law or activist Ray Wong, who moved to Europe for fear of similar reprisals that would also lead to legal proceedings.
The context Hong Kong provides today is far from correct when it comes to the right to protest. Two years ago, the streets were the fighting arena for demands to improve the democratic system.
However, now the main activists are in prison and, this year, hundreds of organizations had to be dissolved, including the HKA, for fear of violating the controversial National Security Law that China imposed since June last year.
With EFE
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