Hong Kong court rejects 12 activists' appeal related to "35+" national security case
發佈日期: 2026-02-23 20:32
TVB News
A Hong Kong court on Monday rejects the appeal of 12 activists who challenged their convictions or sentencing terms in the city's landmark "Hong Kong 47" case. The sentencing of the national security case came in 2024, and 45 convicts received jail terms, ranging from 4 years and two months to 10 years. Two were acquitted.
The hearing took place at West Kowloon Law Courts on Monday morning. Barrister Lawrence Lau, one of the two acquitted defendants, arrived at the court for his hearing after the Department of Justice had made an appeal against his acquittal.
The case is related to an unofficial primary election in 2020 -- the activists aimed to increase the chance of the pro-democracy camp winning a legislative majority at the Legislative Council election -- and to veto government budgets.
The 12 activists who submitted appeals have received a jail term from four years and five months to seven years and three months. Ten of them, including Lam Cheuk-ting and Leung Kwok-hung, challenged against their convictions and sentencing terms.
Ho Kwai-lam appealed against her conviction, while Wong Ji-yuet against her sentencing.
In the judgement, the court rejected the appeals. It says Legco "has the powers and functions as allocated to it by the BL (Basic Law) only," and the lawmakers "cannot purport to perform their official functions and powers in contravention of the constitutional duty to uphold the constitutional order" under the Basic Law and the Legco oath.
The judges said the convicts' scheme was used as a "constitutional mass destruction weapon," and that "if a Legco member joined the scheme..., he must have necessarily acted in breach of such constitutional duty."
They also rejected the applicants' arguments that the seven-year starting point was high.
Meanwhile, the court dismissed the government's appeal against Lawrence Lau's acquittal,saying the trial court "was entitled to have a reasonable doubt" that Lau did not have the "prerequisite subversive intent" based on the evidence.
Eighteen of the 45 convicts in the case have already completed their jail terms.
