Leaders of dissolved HK Alliance guilty of incitement to subversion

Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung of the now-defunct Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China are found guilty of incitement to subversion. The two could face a maximum 10-year jail sentence. A third defendant, another former organiser, Albert Ho, pleaded guilty in January.

The verdict is delivered at the West Kowloon Law Courts. In the ruling, the judges say Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung were the "directing mind and will" of the Alliance. Their goal was to advocate and perform activities relating to the "end one-party dictatorship" action agenda, with their main target audience being Hong Kong people. The judges say such an agenda's aim was not to demand the CCP to return to the system of multiparty cooperation under the Constitution. But it carried the meaning of "overthrowing" and "undermining."

The court says Lee and Chow had been hostile towards the CCP and the Central Government under its leadership, even after the implementation of the Hong Kong National Security Law. The ruling states the convicted "refused to pull back from the brink" and continued to embrace "the resistance line of the Alliance to the very end."

While the court points out the convicted did not use or advocate violence, they intended to cause others "to lose confidence in the CCP by stirring up hostility and causing division." It states the Alliance organisers were aware of breaching the NSL with what they had done or said, but they "paid no regard to it."

Disbanded in 2021, the Alliance's three leaders were also prosecuted in the same year.

The court is adjourned until the coming Friday, when the judges will hear the mitigation plea.