in hong kong the crackdown on the democratic opposition has intensified on sunday 47 pro-democracy activists and lawmakers were detained on charges of conspiracy all the detainees are appearing in the court today organizers of an unofficial primary election were accused by chinese authorities of being a key tactician for the pro-democracy movement in hong kong more than 47 other democrats were arrested in the january 6th ring dozens including former lawmakers and democracy advocates were arrested on the same day american lawyer john clancy was the first foreigner to be arrested in connection with hong kong’s new national security law he said he continued to fight to build a better society in hong kong other lawmakers had similar sentiments and i think that we must maintain the positive view that hong kong people have had for so many years of being able to build a better society based on human rights and working for democracy that people working together eventually we’ll have a better society joining us on this broadcast now is uh richard kimber he’s joining us live from hong kong for more details on this story richard can you quickly tell us what are the charges that these activists are facing in hong kong that’s right i’m standing right outside the courthouse here where all 47 of the arrested are due to appear just in the next few minutes they’ll face the charges of subverting state power that’s the charge laid against them for holding these primary elections ahead of the legislative election that of course did not actually happen in the end it was postponed by a year much to the frustration of those same democracy activists and many of those supporters it was postponed on the grounds of health because of concerns over the covet-19 pandemic many pro-democracy activists accuse the government of using the kovid-19 pandemic as an excuse to postpone the election because of fears that the government may lose the majority of their seats so here we are outside the court some months later and the result of all of this is that those 47 out of 55 people arrested planning those primary elections democratic camp and now facing these charges of subverting state power under the national security law it’s a charge that could enlargement if they’re found guilty now you know richard the detained democrats had raised questions and some had their mobile phones and computers seized as well they were released pending further investigation the hong kong police say that 99 individuals so far have been arrested for suspected violations of the security laws the new national security law that beijing imposed in hong kong and despite several protracted legal appeals uh some have been denied bail multiple times including media mogul jimmy lai so do we expect the same today as well well at the moment that seems to be the case these 47 had in fact been on bail until they were then formally charged over the weekend so the expectation is perhaps they will not be allowed bail in the same way that as you say people like jimmy ly have not been under the security law since then there’s been much legal debate in hong kong over how to handle bail applications under the security law and the basic conclusion has been that it should not be granted unless there is a significant evidence that there is no chance of the people reoffending on the charge that they’ve been charged with so in this case we have some 47 people it’s a huge uh number of the pro-democracy activist camp ranging from uh local councillors to basic activists all the way up to former lawmakers and very senior and experienced politicians so it’s a huge blow for what remains of the pro-democracy movement here in hong kong many people here turning out as you can see behind me just to voice their frustration at this process and their support for those 47 who are being pulled into court today there is a handful of people who are for this process for the government chanting just behind the camera here they’re facing some heckling for many of the supporters around me so another standoff outside court today in what has become a regular a regular experience here in hong kong in recent months where pro-democracy figures of different parts of society have been pulled into the courts to face charges under this new law richard kimber
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