14 people charged for allegedly planning bombings and murders of police officers (File)
Hongkong:
Hong Kong’s first-ever trial invoking the city’s anti-terrorism laws began on Monday, with 14 people charged for allegedly plotting bombings and murders of police officers during major pro-democracy protests in 2019.
Members of a radical protest group known as the “Dragon Slayers” have been arrested following a long-running investigation into an alleged bomb plot that was set to come into action during a rally for International Human Rights Day on 10 December 2019.
At the time, Hong Kong had been transformed by months of massive and sometimes violent protests demanding greater autonomy from Beijing.
On Monday, prosecutor Edward Liu accused the group of planning to plant two bombs along the rally route to kill police officers.
Prosecutors said the Dragon Slayers would ransack stores to attract authorities, while member David Su, then 18, pushed police closer to the bomb.
“The group planned to take the police gun for its own use after the police officer was killed,” Liu said.
Prosecutors charged them under anti-terrorism laws. The city first enacted the law in 2002 following a series of United Nations Security Council resolutions following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States.
No one has been legally charged before this case.
The ten defendants face two charges that could lead to life imprisonment – “explosion of prescribed objects” under anti-terrorism laws and “conspiracy to murder police officers” under Hong Kong’s criminal code.
One of the 10 faces additional counter-terrorism charges of financing the acts, while a woman involved last year has also been charged with this crime. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.
Eight of the defendants are also charged with various offenses related to the possession and manufacture of explosives, firearms and ammunition, some of which carry maximum penalties of life in prison.
All the defendants have been in custody for more than 1,000 days, except for the woman, who admitted late in the trial.
After the protests were suppressed, Beijing implemented a sweeping national security law in mid-2020 that carries maximum sentences of life in prison for subversion, secession, collusion and terrorism.
By the end of 2023, more than 11,200 people had been arrested and nearly 3,000 charged for participating in the 2019 protests.
The Hong Kong government last month announced plans to enact another national security law to cover more crimes, including treason and espionage.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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