Epoch Times - Leading Hong Kong Dissidents Charged with Subversion | Epoch News | China Insider
Aired: 2021-03-02
Duration: 02:53


=== 47 Charged with Subversion (02:11) ===

[00:00:00]  47 Hong Kong dissidents were charged on February 28th with conspiracy to commit subversion in the largest single clampdown on the city's pro-democracy opposition under a Beijing-imposed national security law.
[00:00:14]  Sam Chung, a young activist and a participant in an unofficial primary election last summer, He was dressed in a black mask and accompanied by his wife when he was charged after reporting to a local police station.
[00:00:27]  Hong Kongers have a really tough time these days, he told reporters before entering the station.
[00:00:33]  I hope everyone won't give up on Hong Kong.
[00:00:36]  Fight on.
[00:00:37]  Cheung was arrested in a dawn raid along with more than 50 other lawmakers and activists on January the 6th in the largest so-called national security operation since the law's passage last June.
[00:00:49]  They were accused of organising and participating in an unofficial primary election last July, aimed at selecting the strongest candidates for a legislative council election.
[00:00:59]  The Hong Kong police said in a statement they had charged 47 persons with the single count.
[00:01:04]  They are to appear in court on March 1, the statement added.
[00:01:08]  The pro-democracy lawmakers were detained at the time, questioned, and some had their mobile phones and computers confiscated before being released pending further investigations.
[00:01:18]  My chance of bail won't be too great, Benny Tai wrote in an earlier social media post.
[00:01:24]  He was also charged and accused by Chinese authorities of being a key tactician for the pro-democracy movement in the former British colony.
[00:01:33]  Those also called in by Hong Kong police include a group of younger resistance camp pro-democracy activists, including Lester Shum, Sam Cheung, Ventus Lau and Fergus Leung.
[00:01:45]  The pro-democracy camp denounced the arrests as political persecution for the informal peaceful poll that drew 600,000 votes in a city of 7.5 million.
[00:01:56]  A rights advocacy group, Power for Democracy, that co-organized the primary elections said in a Facebook post it had disbanded.

=== New Restrictions Ahead (00:55) ===

[00:02:05]  Hong Kong police say 99 individuals have been arrested for suspected violations of the security laws so far.
[00:02:13]  Some of these have been denied bail, including media mogul and prominent Beijing critic Jimmy Lai, despite protracted legal appeals.
[00:02:22]  The Chinese Communist Party's sweeping national security laws, seen by opponents as a threat to Hong Kong's freedoms and autonomy, punish acts of subversion, secession, collusion with foreign forces, and terrorism against China's one-party state, with possible life imprisonment.
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