Forty-five people on Tuesday were sentenced from four years and two months to 10 years in prison for conspiracy to commit subversion in the city's largest national security trial to date.

Thirty-one of them pleaded guilty and 14 others were convicted in May for taking part in a plot to overthrow the government by securing a majority in the Legislative Council and indiscriminately voting down the administration's budget and spending initiatives to cause a constitutional crisis.

The High Court sentenced former legal academic Benny Tai, who it said “advocated for a revolution” and masterminded the scheme, to 10 years in prison as a principal offender under Article 22 of the National Security Law (NSL).

Three others who were also deemed to be principal offenders for their roles in organising an unsanctioned Legco primary poll related to the conspiracy – former lawmaker Au Nok-hin, along with ex-district councillors Andrew Chiu and Ben Chung – were given jail terms ranging from six years and one month to seven years each.

The 41 others were all ruled to have been "active participants" in the plot, with the heaviest sentences meted out to Owen Chow – who was jailed for seven years and nine months – and Gordon Ng, who got seven years and three months. The lightest sentence given was four years and two months.

In handing down the sentences, national security judges Andrew Chan, Alex Lee and Johnny Chan stressed that "had the scheme been carried out to the very end, the adverse consequences would be far reaching and no less serious than overthrowing the Government of the HKSAR."

"Whether the scheme would ultimately succeed, it was not for this Court to speculate," they added. "What we were sure was that all the participants had put in every endeavour to make it a success."

They also stressed that while the court looked into things that happened before the NSL was enacted on July 1, 2020 to assess the seriousness and extensiveness of the conspiracy, none of the defendants were actually sentenced for any acts they committed during this time.

“However, they remained willing parties to that agreement and continued their participation in the scheme after it had been rendered criminal by the NSL”, they noted.

Two of the 47 defendants were acquitted earlier.

Full list of defendants and sentences
Benny Tai: 120 months
Au Nok-hin: 81 months
Andrew Chiu: 84 months
Ben Chung: 73 months
Gordon Ng: 87 months
Tiffany Yuen: 51 months
Fergus Leung: 59 months
Tat Cheng: 78 months
Chui Chi-kin: 50 months
Clarisse Yeung: 78 months
Michael Pang: 78 months
Jimmy Sham: 51 months
Claudia Mo: 50 months
Kalvin Ho: 79 months
Frankie Fung: 53 months
Helena Wong: 78 months
Lau Chak-fung: 53 months
Joshua Wong: 56 months
Jeremy Tam: 50 months
Li Ka-tat: 51 months
Tam Tak-chi: 53 months
Wu Chi-wai: 53 months
Sze Tak-loy: 79 months
Chu Hoi-dick: 53 months
Cheung Ho-sum: 59 months
Wong Ji-yuet: 53 months
Ng Kin-wai: 67 months
Andrew Wan: 56 months
Kwok Ka-ki: 50 months
Carol Ng: 53 months
Tam Hoi-pong: 51 months
Gwyneth Ho: 84 months
Ventus Lau: 53 months
Alvin Yeung: 61 months
Raymond Chan: 78 months
Owen Chow: 93 months
Lam Cheuk-ting: 81 months
Gary Fan: 50 months
Hendrick Lui: 51 months
Leung Kwok-hung: 81 months
Mike Lam: 62 months
Ricky Or: 79 months
Lester Shum: 54 months
Wong Pak-yu: 51 months
Winnie Yu: 81 months
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Last updated: 2024-11-19 HKT 12:59