The first Hong Kong man convicted under the National Security Act was sentenced to nine years in prison

Dong Ying-Kid, a 24-year-old Hong Kong national, was sentenced on Friday, July 30, to nine years in prison after serving his first sentence under a Beijing-imposed strict national security law. British colony to overcome differences of opinion.

Mr. Dong, his state server, He was convicted of terrorism on Tuesday For speeding on a motorcycle at the police station on the 1st^{There is} July 2020, the day the National Security Act came into force. He was charged with secession for waving a flag he had engraved “Liberation of Hong Kong: The Revolution of Our Time”, A formula that has established itself as the main slogan of the massive mass mobilization that took place in 2019.

The three judges who found him guilty on Tuesday realized the slogan “Ability to motivate others to act divisive”, So it is illegal. On the charge of terrorism, the magistrates considered the facts to be established because, by rushing over the police, the accused “Seriously Dangerous Public Safety”.

A test without a referee

The case, which lasted two weeks, took place without an arbitral tribunal, which has a real gap with the Hong Kong legal tradition. Three judges were elected by the Hong Kong administration to decide cases related to national security.

More than 60 people have been charged under the National Security Act, which has emerged as a key tool in China’s repression of the pro-democracy movement. Notable among those prosecuted under this harsh text Media mogul Jimmy Loy, Former boss of a pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily. Most of them have been denied bail and are awaiting trial behind bars.

Since this law came into force, the former British colony – until then famous for allowing great thought and trade freedom – has suddenly lost many of the characteristics that fundamentally distinguished it from the rest of China. All key leaders of the opposition movement have been arrested. Apple Daily Closed, election system reformed, meetings banned, many movies or books censored, citizens on file …

The policy of “one country, two organizations” that led to the handover in 1997 confused the city, buried its democratic aspirations and accelerated the process of being described locally as Hong Kong’s “mainland”.