The Court of Appeal on Monday upheld convictions and sentences of 12 people jailed for subversion over their roles in a plot to overthrow the government by taking part in an unsanctioned "primary poll" in 2020.

The Department of Justice's appeal against the acquittal of barrister Lawrence Lau was also rejected.

The 12 appellants were among 45 people jailed by the Court of First Instance over the plot to gain control of the legislature, indiscriminately vote down the budget and trigger a constitutional crisis aimed at forcing the Chief Executive to resign.

Among the 12 were former lawmakers Lam Cheuk-ting, Helena Wong, Ray Chan and Leung Kwok-hung.

The appellants argued that they believed their actions were lawful and they shouldn't have been convicted unless they had committed criminal acts.

However, the Court of Appeal dismissed these arguments, saying the National Security Law clause in question covers all unlawful means involved in plots to overthrow, disrupt or undermine the SAR or central governments.

"The scheme is conceived, advocated and pursued by [first defendant Benny Tai] as a ‘constitutional mass destruction weapon’ for the purpose of toppling the constitutional order in the HKSAR," the judges said in the judgment.

Justices Jeremy Poon, Derek Pang and Anthea Pang added that the plan to indiscriminately veto the government's budget would be a contravention of the duty of lawmakers to uphold the constitutional order.

The judges also ruled that the sentences given to the appellants were appropriate.

On the appeal by the Department of Justice over the acquittal of barrister Lawrence Lau, the judges supported the lower court’s conclusion that he had acted only to gain some political capital without subversive intent.



Edited by Cecil Wong