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SHENZHEN, China (Reuters) – A Chinese court on Monday heard the case of 10 Hong Kong activists who allegedly fled the territory for Taiwan amid anti-China protests and were held in a Chinese prison for four months while their families demanded a resolution. fast. .
The group, whose case is being heard by a court in Shenzhen, on the border with the former semi-autonomous British colony of Hong Kong, faces charges that include illegally crossing the border after their ship was allegedly intercepted en route to Taiwan.
Authorities detained the 11 men and one woman at sea on August 23. The youngest is 16 years old.
The 12, who had faced charges in Hong Kong for anti-government protests there, have been held virtually incommunicado in a mainland prison since their arrest.
Pro-democracy activists began fleeing Hong Kong for democratic Taiwan since the first months of the protests last year, most of them legally by air, but some by boat, activists in Taipei told Reuters.
Chinese officials, who have described the group as separatists, said two would have a separate hearing because they are minors. Andy Li, one of the detainees, faces charges related to a national security law that Beijing imposed on Hong Kong in June for which some crimes carry a sentence of up to life in prison.
Charges of illegal border crossing and organizing an illegal border crossing carry a sentence of up to seven years in jail, authorities in mainland China said.
A Reuters reporter and diplomats were not allowed into court. A concern group supporting the families of the detainees said none of the accused’s relatives attended the trial.
At a press conference in Hong Kong, relatives of some of the detainees called for transparency.
“I beg the courts to issue a speedy sentence,” said the mother of 29-year-old Wong Wai-yin, one of the defendants.
“I really want to see my son. If you don’t give a sentence, I can’t see it. If you give him a sentence, I can go see him. All I want is to see his face once. “
The court said the ruling would be handed down at a later date, without giving further details on a deadline. It was unclear whether the plaintiffs pleaded guilty.
The case has drawn much attention in Hong Kong as a rare case in which Chinese authorities arrested people trying to leave at a time of growing fears over the prospects for their high degree of autonomy after Beijing imposed a draconian national security law. in June.
International human rights groups have raised concerns about the treatment of the accused after their families said they were denied access to independent lawyers.
“China must ensure that the 10 people … as well as the other two detained with them, get public and fair hearings,” Amnesty International said in a statement. “They must also ensure that none of the 12 are subjected to torture or other ill-treatment.”
Lee Cheuk-yan, chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of China’s Democratic Patriotic Movements, criticized the trial.
“They do not have the right to appoint their own lawyer. They don’t even know the names of the government-appointed attorneys, ”he said.
Diplomats from countries including the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia were denied entry to the hearing after authorities said the court was full.
“We have been denied entry. The official explanation given is that the case does not involve any foreign nationals, ”a Western envoy told Reuters.
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said his government was deeply concerned that the 12 were secretly tried. London hopes that China will respect the rule of law and conduct trials fairly and transparently, Raab said.
The US embassy in China urged authorities to release the fugitives and allow them to leave.
“His supposed ‘crime’ was fleeing from tyranny. Communist China will stop at nothing to prevent its people from seeking freedom elsewhere, ”the embassy said in a statement.
Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997 with the guarantee of freedoms not enjoyed on the mainland, including freedom of expression. Protesters who took to the streets for months last year complain that Communist Party rulers in Beijing are curtailing those freedoms, a charge Beijing denies.
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