Hong Kong court makes historic decision about 45 democracy supporters
Hong Kong authorities gave prison terms to dozens of pro-democracy figures for their role in unofficial election planning. The sentences range up to 10 years in what became citys largest security case
In a major-scale court ruling Hong Kong officials sent 45 pro-democracy supporters to jail with sentences reaching up to 10 years. The decision happened this tuesday making it the biggest security-related case in the citys history
The group which included well-known democracy figures faced charges under Beijings security rules (implemented about 3 years ago) Their main wrong-doing was linked to setting-up an unofficial voting event to pick opposition members
The authorities said these democracy supporters had a step-by-step plan: first win a big part in the law-making group then block all money-related decisions and finally push out the citys top leader. This plan according to officials went against the security rules that Beijing put in place
Foreign nations and human-rights groups spoke up after the court made its choice saying the whole thing looked like an attack on basic democratic rights. The case showed how much Hong Kongs political space changed since the new rules came in
The court looked at what Chan Kim-sum and other democracy supporters did when they tried to work around official election rules. They wanted to pick their own candidates but officials saw this as going too far; breaking the new order thats been in place since early 2020s
