Hong Kong’s top court upholds convictions of 7 prominent pro-democracy activists over 2019 protest

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong’s top court on Monday upheld the convictions of seven of Hong Kong’s most prominent pro-democracy activists over their roles in one of the biggest anti-government protests in 2019.

Jimmy Lai, founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper; Martin Lee, the founding chairman of the city’s Democratic Party; and five former pro-democracy lawmakers were found guilty in 2021 of organizing and participating in an unauthorized assembly.

Their convictions dealt a blow to the city’s flagging pro-democracy movement during a political crackdown on dissidents following the protests.

Last year, the activists partially won their appeal at a lower court, with their convictions quashed over the charge of organizing an unauthorized assembly. But their convictions over taking part in the assembly were upheld and they continued their legal battle at the city’s top court.

On Monday, judges at the Court of Final Appeal unanimously ruled against their appeal over the remaining convictions.

The defendants previously argued that the trial judge had failed to conduct an “operational proportionality” assessment when convicting them and quoted two non-binding decisions set out by the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. The defense also suggested the judge should have taken into account that the procession did not become violent.

But Chief Justice Andrew Cheung and Justice Roberto Ribeiro said in their written judgment that the two British cases should not be adopted in the city’s courts because the frameworks for human rights challenges in the two jurisdictions are different.

They ruled that the defendants’ proposition was “unsustainable” and “is contrary to all established principles governing constitutional