A teenager from Hong Kong was ordered to spend four months in prison on Tuesday for insulting China’s national flag and illegal assembly, as Beijing targets more and more prominent activists in the financial center. Tony Chung, a 19-year-old leader of a now disbanded pro-democracy group, was convicted earlier this month for throwing the Chinese flag to the ground during fighting outside the Hong Kong legislature in May 2019.
While serving his sentence, Chung will await trial on a charge of “secession”, which could bring his life in prison, according to the draconian law of national security Beijing imposed on Hong Kong on June 30.
Chung was the first public figure to be pursued under the new security law, which Beijing described as a “sword” to restore the financial center’s “order and stability” after seven months of massive, often violent, pro-democracy protests. last year.
He was sentenced to three months each for insulting the national flag and the illegal assembly and was told to serve four months behind bars.
Kin Cheung / AP
The teen also faces separate charges of money laundering and conspiracy to publish seductive content.
Chung was arrested by plainclothes police in front of the US consulate in late October and has been remanded in custody ever since.
Speculation has circulated that the authorities have moved to Chung because he hoped to seek asylum at the US consulate in Hong Kong.
An increasing number of pro-democracy activists across the political spectrum have fled Hong Kong since Beijing stepped up its crackdown on the city’s protests against China’s authoritarian rule.
Under security law, different discourse instead of acts can be claimed for vague but serious crimes, such as “subversion” and “collusion with foreign forces.”
The law also overturned the legal barrier between the internationally recognized common law judiciary in Hong Kong and the party-controlled opaque justice system in mainland China, allowing the extradition of suspects across the border for trial.
Last Sunday, Chinese state television CGTN reported that Hong Kong police included 30 people who are not currently in Hong Kong on the wanted list on suspicion of violating national security law, including self-exiled activists Ted Hui and Baggio Leung.
Prominent activists remaining in Hong Kong have either been imprisoned, such as Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow, or face frequent arrests and multiple charges.
Jimmy Lai, a pro-democracy media mogul who is also accused of national security law, was placed under house arrest and stripped of public speech – including his Twitter account – while the Hong Kong High Court took granted bail last week.
However, the decision provoked serious criticism from China, which threatened to extradite Lai to the mainland for trial.