Three pro-democracy activists from Hong Kong were sentenced to prison terms ranging from five to seven years and three months for organizing annual vigils in memory of the victims of the Tiananmen Square Massacre in China. Lee Cheuk-yan, 69, received seven years in prison, while Chow Hang-tung, 41, was sentenced to seven years and three months. Albert Ho, 74, who pleaded guilty, received the most lenient sentence of five years and two months.
The three activists had been detained since they were officially charged in 2021. Last August, a Hong Kong court found them guilty of the crime of "incitement to subversion." They were leaders of the Hong Kong Alliance, an organization that has since been dissolved and that was responsible for holding the annual vigils honoring the victims of the 1989 crackdown in Tiananmen Square.
The trial and sentences received criticism from Taiwan, which expressed solidarity with the convicted, as well as international human rights organizations. Both Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International condemned the sentences imposed on the activists, considering them a repression of civil liberties and historical memory.
