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HONG KONG, Nov. 23 (Reuters): Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong pleaded guilty on Monday to charges of organizing and participating in an unauthorized assembly near the police headquarters during anti-government protests. from last year.
Wong, who was just 17 when he became the face of the student-led Umbrella Movement democracy protests in 2014, faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison if convicted.
Before entering the courtroom, Wong said he would not be surprised if an immediate arrest followed.
“Perhaps the authorities want him to stay in prison one period after another,” Wong said.
“But I am convinced that neither bars, nor electoral bans, nor any other arbitrary power would prevent us from activism. What we are doing now is explaining the value of freedom to the world.”
Wong was not a prominent figure in last year’s pro-democracy and anti-China protests, but his continued activism has drawn the ire of Beijing, which sees him as a “black hand” of foreign forces.
He dissolved his pro-democracy group Demosisto in June, just hours after the Chinese parliament passed a comprehensive national security law for Hong Kong, which punishes everything that Beijing considers subversion, secession, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces, with up to life imprisonment.
His long-time activist colleague Agnes Chow has already pleaded guilty to charges related to the same June 2019 protest, while Ivan Lam, another former Demosisto colleague, was also expected to plead guilty.
Wong also faces charges of participating in an unauthorized assembly in October 2019 and June 4, 2020 during a vigil commemorating the 1989 crackdown on protesters in and around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.
Earlier this year, Wong was disqualified along with 11 other pro-democracy politicians and activists from running in a since-postponed election for the city legislature.
Wong spent five weeks in jail last year for contempt of court, before being released on June 16 when the protests were already in full swing.
The repeated arrests of Wong and other activists have drawn criticism from Western governments who say China is not meeting its obligation to allow Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy, agreed to with the former British colonial master when the city returned to Chinese rule. in 1997.
China denies the accusation, saying that Hong Kong is an internal matter. – Reuters
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