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Imprisoned for secessionist independence in Hong Kong News

Tony Chung, 20, is the youngest person convicted under a new law that has suppressed Hong Kong dissent.

A young democracy activist in Hong Kong has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison after pleading guilty to secession under the city’s comprehensive national security law.

With Tuesday’s verdict, 20-year-old Tony Chung is the youngest person to be convicted under the new law that has crushed Hong Kong’s dissent and once transformed the international business hub.

Earlier this month, he pleaded guilty secession and an account of money laundering, but defiantly said he did not “have to be ashamed.”

Chung was a collector of Student Localism, a small group that Hong Kong formed five years ago as a high school student to defend independence from China.

Separation from China was then the view of minorities in Hong Kong, even as calls for self-government became louder in large and often violent democratic protests two years ago.

Beijing imposed a security law on Hong Kong in response to these protests and it was disbanded hours before Student Localism came into force.

Authorities accused Chung of continuing to operate the group with the help of foreign activists and soliciting donations via PayPal. He is in charge of money laundering.

The prosecutor said Chung’s group posted more than 1,000 messages on social media, including calls for “the removal of the Chinese communist colonial rule” and “the construction of a republic in Hong Kong.”

More than 150 arrested

Some of the charges cited by prosecutors predate the entry into force of the security law, although Hong Kong authorities have promised that the law will not be retroactive.

On Tuesday, Stanley Chan, one of the group of judges selected by the government to prosecute national security cases, said Chungen’s criminal intent was “for all to see” on social media, in conversations, on street reports and in schools.

“He actively organized, planned and carried out activities to separate the country,” said District Court Judge Stanley Chan.

Chung has spent more than a year after being arrested arrested October 2020.

He was caught by a street-wearing policeman in a cafe opposite the U.S. consulate, allegedly intending to seek asylum.

The security law aims at everything that the authorities consider subversion, “terrorism” or cooperation with foreign forces.

Chung initially incurred another additional charge of sedition and money laundering, but was exempted after an agreement.

In another case last December, Chung was jailed for four months for illegal assembly and insulting the Chinese national flag.

Four other men have been convicted under the security law so far, mostly for their political views.

More than 150 people have been arrested under the law, nearly half of whom have been indicted.

The bail is often denied and allegations of guilt are a way to reduce the final penalty and legal costs of a lengthy court battle.

Most democratic politicians are now in prison or in self-exile. Dozens of civil society organizations have folded, and some international rights groups they have left the city.

Authorities in China and Hong Kong deny that the security law violates the rights of individuals and say legislation was necessary to restore stability after the mass street protests of 2019.

The former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997 with the promise of a high degree of autonomy. Democracy activists and some Western governments say China has broken that promise, an accusation that Beijing strongly denies.




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