Twelve men, the youngest of whom was 16, were arrested at sea in August as they fled to Taiwan.
Le Monde avec AFP
Ten Hong Kong pro-democracy activists who tried to flee Hong Kong by boat to Taiwan were sentenced on Wednesday December 30 to terms ranging from 7 months to 3 years in prison, a mainland Chinese court reported.
Six months after the adoption of a draconian national security law in Hong Kong, their trial was emblematic of Beijing’s takeover of the former British colony , which became a Chinese semi-autonomous territory in 1997.
A total of twelve men, the youngest of whom was elderly aged 16, had been arrested at sea by the Chinese coast guard 70 km from Hong Kong on August 23, before being handed over to the police in Shenzhen (south) and detained. Both the European Union and the United States demanded their immediate release. The fugitives were trying to reach Taiwan, an island rival to mainland China.
Two and three years in prison for the role of “organizer”
Two of the men were respectively sentenced three and two years in prison for their role “organizer in this illegal border crossing”, announced in a statement the court of Shenzhen where they were tried this week. They faced up to seven years in prison.
Eight other men, mere passengers, were sentenced to 7 months in prison for “illegal border crossing”. The maximum sentence was one year. The ten men “admitted their guilt” during their trial, the court assured in its statement.
Two minors who were on board the boat must be handed over to authorities in Hong Kong on Wednesday, police said in the former British colony. No charges were brought against them, the Yantian District Procuratorate in Shenzhen said on Wednesday.