The youngest Hong Kong pro-democracy activist but has been convicted and jailed under the territory’s harsh national security legal guidelines. BBC stories that the 20 12 months previous Tony Chung was being tried for the crimes of secession and cash laundering, and has been sentenced to 3 years and seven months in prison. Beijing has been cracking down on activists ever since widespread pro-democracy protests broke out on the island in 2019.
The young man was arrested by plainclothes police in October 2020, according to BBC. Chung was the chief of a small group referred to as ‘Studentlocalism’ that supported Hong Kong seeking independence from China. He was arrested for the alleged possession of pro-independence materials and for numerous pro-independence social media posts, each of which are illegal underneath China’s nationwide security legislation.
BBC claims that Chung was arrested by plainclothes cops near the US consulate in Hong Kong, the place he was going to hunt political asylum. Johnny Patterson, the director of the human rights group Hong Kong Watch, commented on the nature of Chung’s conviction.
“…disproportionate, draconian, and units a dangerous precedent for different younger Hong Kongers whose solely crime is using social media to protest the dismantling of Hong Kong’s freedoms…At 20 years old, Tony Chung is the youngest person to be sentenced underneath this draconian regulation. Fast will not be the last.”
The decide of the case said that Chung “played an active position in selling the independence of Hong Kong,” however the 20 yr old insists that he has nothing to be ashamed of. The national safety regulation was put in place by China in June 2020. It additional erodes Hong Kong’s autonomy, BBC reports, and makes it simpler for the federal government to arrest and punish protestors and dissidents. Using this legislation, over a hundred and fifty activists, politicians and journalists have been arrested within the territory..