HONG KONG: Fourteen opposition activists in Hong Kong were found guilty and two were acquitted on Thursday in a landmark subversion trial.

The verdicts in Hong Kong’s biggest trial against the opposition come more than three years after police arrested 47 activists in dawn raids at homes across the city. They were charged with conspiracy to commit subversion under a Chinese security law.

Sentencing will come at a later date for those found guilty, with prison terms ranging from three years to life. Thirty-one defendants pleaded guilty, and four of them have become prosecution witnesses.

The US and some other countries criticised the trial as politically motivated, calling for the accused to be immediately released. Diplomats from several countries, including Britain and the European Union, attended the hearing.

Security was tight around the High Court, with scores of police officers, some with dogs, and vehicles patrolling the area. Some supporters queued overnight to secure a spot. “I came because it’s a critical stage and a historic moment” for Hong Kong, said a man who gave only his surname, Chiu, 35, who began waiting at midnight. The defendants “all stood up for themselves and for Hong Kong people hoping to make a change”.

The defendants were accused of a “vicious plot” to paralyse government in the former British colony and force the city’s leader to resign through a pre-selection ballot in a July 2020 citywide election. The opposition maintains it was an unofficial attempt to select the strongest candidates in a bid to win a historic majority in Hong Kong’s legislature.

Summarising their verdict, judges Andrew Chan, Alex Lee and Johnny Chan wrote that if the defendants had succeeded, it would have created “a constitutional crisis for Hong Kong” and led to “serious interfering in, disrupting or undermining the performance of duties and functions in accordance with the law by the (Hong Kong) government”.

Published in Dawn, May 31st, 2024