Teenager in Hong Kong A four-month prison order has been issued for insulting the Chinese national flag and illegal gathering, as Beijing increasingly targets prominent activists from the financial center.
Tony Chung, 19, who led a now-disbanded pro-democracy group, was found guilty this month of throwing the Chinese flag to the ground during brawls outside Hong Kong’s legislature in May 2019.
While serving his sentence, Chung will await his trial DetachableWhich could lead to life imprisonment, according to the stringent national security law that Beijing imposed on Hong Kong on June 30.
Chung is the first public political figure to be tried under the new security law, which Beijing described as a “sword” to restore “order and stability” to the financial center after seven months of mass and violent pro-democracy protests last year.
He was sentenced to three months in prison each for insulting the national flag and illegal assembly, and was told to spend four months behind bars. The teen also faces separate charges of money laundering and conspiracy to post glamorous content.
General He was arrested by plainclothes policemen Opposite the US Consulate in October, and has been in pretrial detention ever since.
There was speculation that authorities detained Chung because he was hoping to seek asylum at the US consulate in Hong Kong.
An increasing number of pro-democracy activists across the political spectrum have fled Hong Kong since Beijing stepped up its crackdown on protests against authoritarian rule in China.
Under the Security Law, dissenting speech instead of acts can be considered vague but serious crimes such as “sabotage” and “collusion with foreign forces.”
The law also toppled the legal firewall between the internationally recognized justice system in Hong Kong and the opaque party-controlled justice system in mainland China by permitting the cross-border extradition of suspects for trial.
Last Sunday, Chinese state television CGTN reported that Hong Kong police had placed 30 people not in Hong Kong on a wanted list on suspicion of violating the National Security Law, including self-exiled activists Ted Hui and Baggio Leung.
The remaining prominent activists in Hong Kong have either been imprisoned – incl Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow Or face repeated arrests and multiple charges.
Jimmy Lai, the pro-democracy media mogul, was also Accused under the National Security Act. Last week, the Hong Kong High Court Give him bail From prison but was placed under house arrest. It also ordered him to hand over all travel documents and forbade him from speaking to the press, making public statements, using social media, meeting foreign officials, and “colluding with foreign forces.”
The ruling drew heavy criticism from China, which threatened to extradite Lai to the mainland for trial.
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