47 Hong Kong opposition figures to learn fate in landmark national security trial at end of May

The court is also expected to set dates for hearing mitigation pleas from anyone convicted, including the 31 accused who admitted to conspiring to subvert state power, an offence punishable by up to life imprisonment.

The opposition-led primary was held in July 2020 to pick the strongest candidates to compete in the official Legislative Council election, due to take place two months later.

The 47 politicians and activists allegedly plotted to paralyse the government and topple then chief executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor by seizing a controlling majority in the Legislative Council to block government budgets.

The Basic Law, the city’s mini-constitution, provides that the chief executive must resign if the same financial blueprint is rejected twice by the legislature.

Prosecutors described the primary as a plot to turn the legislature into a “constitutional weapon of mass destruction” against the government, a term borrowed from legal scholar Benny Tai Yiu-ting, who floated the idea in an article published in March 2020.

The prosecutors relied on Tai’s articles about “mutual destruction”, a plan they said was meant to eventually implicate Beijing. Speeches made at various press conferences and in election forums, as well as pledges signed by the primary’s participants, were also highlighted in court.

The government postponed the Legco election, citing the coronavirus pandemic as the reason.

During a year-long adjournment, the opposition camp faced an unprecedented crackdown, with Beijing introducing changes to the city’s electoral system to ensure “patriots” ruled Hong Kong.

More to follow …