HONG KONG, Sept 2 — Prominent Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong is expected to plead guilty on Wednesday in a national security trial accusing him of foreign collusion.
The 29-year-old Wong, one of the most recognisable faces of Hong Kong’s now-quashed democracy movement, was charged last year under a national security law imposed on the city by Beijing.
He is already serving a nearly five-year sentence for subversion and was due to be released next year.
He was among dozens of pro-democracy campaigners convicted in the city’s largest national security trial after their involvement in informal elections in 2020.
Rights groups have said the new charges, which could see Wong sent to prison for life, aim to keep him behind bars as long as possible.
He is accused of asking foreign countries, individuals or institutions to “impose sanctions or blockade, or engage in other hostile activities” against Hong Kong and China in 2020, after the national security law took effect.
He is also accused of conspiring with self-exiled activist Nathan Law and others to ask foreign entities to “seriously disrupt the formulation and implementation of laws or policies” in Hong Kong and China.
Wong is scheduled for a “plea and sentencing” hearing on Wednesday at the High Court, according to the judiciary’s website, which suggested he intends to plead guilty.
Wong has been a thorn in Beijing’s side for more than a decade after shooting to prominence during the 2014 Umbrella Movement protests as a teenage student leader.
He was involved in the huge and sometimes violent democracy rallies in 2019 that triggered the imposition of the national security law the following year.
Along with Law and activist Agnes Chow, Wong founded the Demosisto party, which advocated for Hong Kong’s self-determination. It disbanded after Beijing passed the security law.
Wong previously vowed in a post on Facebook that “I will continue to defend my home — Hong Kong — until they silence me and eliminate me from this land”. — AFP
