Lockdown update:
Block 2, Lido Garden, Sham Tseng
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HK outbreak📣
5 new cases.
1 local case

Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong jailed for 4 months over 2019 demo

https://hongkongfp.com/2021/04/13/breaking-hong-kong-activist-joshua-wong-jailed-for-4-months-over-2019-demo/

Ex-Hong Kong police officer accused of sending ‘threatening’ email to exiled city activist

https://hongkongfp.com/2021/04/14/ex-hong-kong-police-officer-accused-of-sending-threatening-email-to-exiled-city-activist/

#Court #47Democrats #PoliticalSuppression
A Journalist's Account of Witnessing the Trial of 47 Pro-democracy Activists in Hong Kong's Court

Part 1

[Editor's note: The Hong Kong authorities arrested and charged 47 pro-democracy with #NationalSecurityLaw violations for their participation in the primary election of the democratic camp in 2020. The trial began in the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts on March 1, 2021.

The following is a reflective account written by Hong Kong journalist Cheung Hoi-kit.]

In the court room, the 47 pro-democracy activists took half of the seats, crowding the area behind the defendant fence and the seats outside. It is like the entire dissidents camp has been arrested at once. Regardless of their ages, ranks and the political party, they became a community, facing their fate together.

With the large number of defendants and their lawyers, the main court did not have seats for the families, reporters and the public. Families could not stay close to the defendants, not even to have any eye contact, as they had to watch the hearing through the live broadcast.

The main court accomodated neither family members nor reporters. Even more so, no bail statement discussion was allowed. The marathon-style trial was like an epic, where countless tales were recounted.

The court debated on a wide range of media reports of the 47 pro-democracy activists. Although the chief magistrate Victor So said that those stories were touching, he claimed that those reports did not point to any public benefit.

Linda Wong, a senior counsel representing the defendants, argued that those stories were not a paragraph in a fiction, but the experience and the true background of a person. The defendants were not mere numbers.

The cold legal provisions and heart warming personal stories continued to compete in the court room.

Source: HK Citizens News #Mar14
Image: Sophiekiu.artsy
https://publielectoral.lat/guardiansofhongkong/29387

https://www.hkcnews.com/article/39218/47%E4%BA%BA%E5%88%9D%E9%81%B8%E6%A1%88-%E6%B0%91%E4%B8%BB%E6%B4%BE%E5%88%9D%E9%81%B8-%E5%88%9D%E9%81%B8%E5%A4%A7%E8%B5%B7%E8%A8%B4-39218/%E3%80%90%E6%8E%A1%E8%A8%AA%E6%89%8B%E8%A8%98%E3%80%9147%E4%BA%BA%E6%A1%88%E5%9B%9B%E6%97%A5%E5%9B%9B%E5%A4%9C%E3%80%8C%E5%8F%B2%E8%A9%A9%E5%BC%8F%E6%8F%90%E5%A0%82%E3%80%8D%E7%9A%84%E4%B8%80%E4%BA%9B%E5%82%99%E5%BF%98

#Reflection #PoliticalPrisoners

Hong Kong plans to reduce transparency of electoral roll

https://hongkongfp.com/2021/04/14/hong-kong-plans-to-reduce-transparency-of-electoral-roll/

Hong Kong police watchdog exonerates officer who removed former lawmaker’s goggles to pepper-spray his face

https://hongkongfp.com/2021/04/14/hong-kong-police-watchdog-exonerates-officer-who-removed-former-lawmakers-goggles-to-pepper-spray-his-face/

Hong Kong legal sector influence ‘diluted’ in Election Committee under election revamp plan, says lawmaker

https://hongkongfp.com/2021/04/15/hong-kong-legal-sector-influence-diluted-in-election-committee-under-election-revamp-plan-says-lawmaker/

Queuing, blank placards and shopping: how Hongkongers innovated acts of resistance during security law clampdown

https://hongkongfp.com/2021/04/15/queuing-blank-placards-and-shopping-how-hongkongers-innovated-acts-of-resistance-during-security-law-clampdown/

#Court #PoliticalSuppression
University Student in HK Charged With National Security Violation for Reportedly Possessing Pepper Ball Gun

A 23-year-old university student in Hong Kong, who was originally accused of possessing a pepper ball gun without a licence, is now charged with "inciting secession" under the #NationalSecurityLaw.

The new charge was added by the prosecution when the case was mentioned in court on April 8, 2021.

In February, the prosecution made the news for grammatical mistakes in the indictment document such as "one piece pepper ball" and "two pieces pepper ball". The judge ordered the prosecution to correct the primary-school level English mistakes before continuing the trial, lest it becomes "the laughingstock of foreign courts.”

Source: Apple Daily #Apr8
https://bit.ly/39Qlkmi

See also: Police Charges Contain Rookie English Mistakes
https://publielectoral.lat/guardiansofhongkong/28972

Some 3,200 individual voters involved in selecting Hong Kong’s powerful new election committee compared to 239,000 before

https://hongkongfp.com/2021/04/15/some-3200-individual-voters-involved-in-selecting-hong-kongs-powerful-new-election-committee-compared-to-239000-before/

RTHK worker arrested over 'imitation firearms'
https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1585920-20210415.htm

Police applicant numbers continue to drop
https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1585809-20210414.htm

Authorities probe miscarriages after vaccination
https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1585794-20210414.htm

HK outbreak📣
6 new cases.
2 local cases
1 unlinked

National security suspect's case adjourned to June 7
https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1585747-20210414.htm

Barista jailed over anti-government protest in 2019
https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1585709-20210414.htm

Four die in Sau Mau Ping flat fire
https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1586065-20210416.htm