The Court resumed today(11 July) to hear the mitigation pleas of the remaining 47 pro-democracy primary election participants. Former chairman of the now-disbanded Hospital Authority Employees Alliance, Winnie Yu, appeared in court this morning with short hair and a brown cardigan. Her representing lawyer read out her mitigation letter in court. However, before the defence lawyer could finish reading the letter, the court cut off the mitigation, citing that the content was a political statement.
As I have stated in my evidence, for me everything stemmed from the Anti-Extradition Bill movement in 2019. Back then over a million Hong Kong citizens took to the streets and expressed their opposition to the amendment peacefully. Regrettably, their voices went unheard and eventually triggered off vigorous street protests. And now, more than 5 years after the democratic movement began, the government regards those citizens who took part in the movement as thugs and labels the whole movement as “Black Riot”.
In 2020, I believed that even with continuous street protests, the government would still turn a deaf ear to public grievances. The last thing I wanted to see was further sacrifices and arrests of the protestors. Moreover, since the government failed to take timely measures to prevent the community outbreak of COVID-19, I thus wanted to enter our political institution – to stand for election in the Legislative Council, to increase the bargaining power and bring changes to the deadlock at that time. Yet it was accused as subverting the State Power. This is unheard of in other democratic countries.
The Verdict stated that “Five Demands” were castle in the air. Yet among those demands was the implementation of dual Universal Suffrage as promised by the Basic Law. If the government deemed implementing Article 23 a constitutional duty, isn’t implementing dual Universal Suffrage the same? Even now, I am still of the view that there is nothing wrong in bringing changes to the established order through voting in the legislature, perhaps the only wrong I have committed was that I love Hong Kong too much…(the judge interrupted at this point)