The defendants represent a cross-section of Hong Kong's opposition -- including activists Joshua Wong and Lester Shum, professor Benny Tai and former lawmakers Claudia Mo and Au Nok-hin.
They are charged with "conspiracy to subvert state power" for organising, joining and supporting an unofficial primary election in July 2020 to shortlist the opposition camp's candidates for the city's legislature election.
The offence carries up to life in prison under the sweeping national security law that was enacted on the financial hub in 2020 to quell dissent following huge, sometimes violent democracy protests starting a year earlier.
Prosecutors allege the defendants planned to obtain a legislature majority with the primary winners, then force the government to meet the "five demands" raised by protesters in 2019.
The demands included launching an independent inquiry into alleged police brutality against protesters and gaining universal suffrage for both the city's leader and lawmakers.
Prosecutors also allege the defendants intended to veto the government's budgets with the intent of forcing the chief executive to step down.
According to the Basic Law -- the semi-autonomous city's mini-constitution -- Hong Kong's leader can dismiss the legislature if the budget is vetoed.
If the same budget is struck down again by newly elected lawmakers, the chief executive must resign.
"It had all along been their intentions to use vetoing the budgets... as a means to create an unprecedented constitutional crisis, paralyse the government, and/or bring about political instability in Hong Kong with a view to subverting the state power," prosecutors wrote in their written submission seen by AFP.
"The crime lies in the agreement itself," the prosecution argued.
The group of 47 were first charged in March 2021. Most were denied bail and have since remained in jail. Thirty-one defendants pleaded guilty.
The trial has been conducted without a jury -- a major departure from the city's 178-year-old common law tradition -- as ordered by the secretary for justice to prevent risks including the "involvement of foreign elements".
Three senior High Court judges handpicked by the government to try security cases were assigned instead.
In October, a group of UN human rights experts expressed concerns about the trial.
"We are very troubled about the use of mass trials in NSL cases and how they may negatively affect safeguards that ensure due process and the right to fair trial," the experts said.
The last round of debates -- also known as the closing submissions -- is expected to last 10 days before the court adjourns to consider the verdict.
Who's who in Hong Kong's national security trial
Hong Kong (AFP) Nov 29, 2023 -
Hong Kong's largest trial under Beijing's sweeping national security law alleges that 47 defendants conspired to subvert state power by organising an unofficial primary election in July 2020.
The defendants include dozens of politicians and activists -- and even an ordinary voter.
Here is a brief look at some of them:
- The scholar -
Legal scholar Benny Tai is the "mastermind and instigator" behind the democracy camp's "conspiracy to subvert state power", prosecutors have alleged.
He had "first conceived the idea" of using constitutional powers conferred to lawmakers -- if the pro-democracy camp won -- to force the government to meet demands raised by democracy protesters in 2019.
Halfway through the campaign, Beijing's national security law was enacted to quell dissent, and the primary was declared an illegal attempt to subvert the government.
Prosecutors alleged the democracy bloc intended to veto city budgets should they win in a bid to unseat the chief executive.
Tai pleaded guilty to the charge and has been behind bars for more than 1,000 days.
The 59-year-old was one of the city's top experts in the Basic Law -- Hong Kong's mini-constitution since its handover from Britain to China.
He was previously jailed for co-leading the Occupy Central movement in 2014, when hundreds of thousands of Hong Kongers staged a 79-day sit-in for universal suffrage.
- The 'resistance camp' -
The self-dubbed "resistance camp" emerged in June 2020 when an online petition urged the primary election candidates to openly promise to push the government to meet the "five demands" raised by 2019's protesters.
Started by Sam Cheung, Fergus Leung and Owen Chow, the petition saw more than 30 candidates sign on.
Sixteen members of the camp -- including prominent activists Joshua Wong and Lester Shum -- saw huge wins in the primary election.
They held a press conference declaring they would "oppose the national security law without hesitation or regret".
Other members present included activist-in-exile Sunny Cheung, former lawmaker Eddie Chu and journalist-turned-activist Gwyneth Ho.
- The prosecution's witnesses -
Three former organisers of the primary election stood as prosecution witnesses during the trial, putting the blame on Tai and the "resistance camp".
They are Andrew Chiu and Ben Chung, both former leaders of Power for Democracy -- a since-disbanded democracy camp coordination platform -- and former lawmaker Au Nok-hin.
Chiu said Tai was the "big thinker" behind the primary election project and that the organisation was merely an "election service provider".
- The volunteer -
Gordon Ng, an Australian-Hong Kong dual citizen, is the only defendant in the case who was neither an organiser nor a candidate in the primary election -- but rather a voter.
He initiated a campaign called "Say No To Primary Dodgers", urging the public to vote for the primary's winners in the official legislature election.
Ng created pages on social media platforms, bought front-page ads in the now-shuttered newspaper Apple Daily, and organised street booths to promote his initiative.
The other defendants said they did not know Ng or consider him part of the project.
But prosecutors said he "furthered and advanced" the primary's purpose and hence was part of the conspiracy.
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