Hong Kong court jails 4 leaders of 2014 pro-democracy protests

A Hong Kong court jailed four leaders of 2014 pro-democracy protests on Wednesday amid heightened concerns over the decline of freedoms in the China-ruled city nearly five years after activists took to the streets in mass protests.

The sentencing of the nine activists followed a near month-long trial that was closely watched as China’s Communist Party leaders have put Hong Kong’s autonomy under increasing strain, stoking concern among foreign governments, rights groups, and business people.

Professors Benny Tai, 54 and Chan Kin-man, 60 were sentenced to 16 months imprisonment for conspiracy to commit a public nuisance and eight months for incitement to commit public nuisance at the city’s Magistrate Court on Wednesday.

Their sentences will be served concurrently. Reverend Chu Yiu-ming, 75, was given a 16-month sentence for conspiracy to commit a public nuisance suspended for two years. The trio was convicted earlier this month.

The group popularised the idea of a non-violent occupation of central Hong Kong in 2014, which aimed to pressure Beijing to bring fully democratic elections to the semi-autonomous Chinese territory. This later evolved to a three-month-long occupation of major roads in the heart of Hong Kong by thousands of citizens.

Pro-democracy lawmaker Shiu Ka-Chun and activist Raphael Wong were both jailed for eight months for inciting public nuisance.

“We maintain our determination to achieve universal suffrage ... this won’t change,” Wong shouted out in court as he was taken away.

Since the city returned to Chinese rule in 1997, critics say Beijing has reneged on a commitment to maintain Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy and freedoms under a “one country, two systems” arrangement.

The protesters had demanded that China's Communist Party leaders allow genuine universal suffrage in Hong Kong to select its leader. Police cleared the demonstrators in December 2014, and authorities granted no democratic concessions.

Chan, in passing sentence, acknowledged the right to civil disobedience and the right to assembly and free speech, but said the protracted road blockages had caused suffering to the public and that some restrictions on freedoms were necessary for a democratic society.

Another former student leader, Tommy Cheung was ordered to carry out 200 hours of community service.

Tanya Chan, a lawmaker, had her sentencing postponed until June 10 on medical grounds.

Several hundred supporters, many wearing yellow bands and holding yellow umbrellas, a symbol of the protests, gathered outside the West Kowloon Law Courts. Some sobbed after the sentences were announced while others chanted demands for genuine democracy.

The trial of the activists was considered the most significant legal maneuver by authorities to punish those involved in the 2014 protests, called Occupy Central, in reference to the city’s central business district.

The demonstrations were Hong Kong’s biggest and most protracted in recent decades and one of the boldest challenges to China’s leaders since pro-democracy protests in and around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Organizers estimated that more than one million people took part in the protests over nearly three months.