HONG KONG — November 19, 2024. Hong Kong’s Court of First Instance sentenced 45 pro-democracy figures to prison terms ranging from four years and two months to 10 years in the case widely known as the “Hong Kong 47.”
The case concerned an unofficial primary election held in July 2020. Prosecutors argued that the defendants planned to use a legislative majority to reject government budgets and force political concessions. The defendants and their supporters maintained that the primary and the proposed use of legislative powers were peaceful political participation.
Thirty-one defendants pleaded guilty. Fourteen others were convicted after trial. Two of the original 47 defendants were acquitted, which is why the November 19 sentencing applied to 45 people rather than all 47.
Legal scholar Benny Tai received the longest sentence, 10 years. Other terms ranged from four years and two months to seven years and nine months. Joshua Wong received four years and eight months.
The Hong Kong government said the sentences reflected what it described as the seriousness of the conspiracy. Rights advocates and foreign governments condemned the prosecution as an attack on political participation and called for the defendants’ release.
Why this case matters
The prosecution converted a broad cross-section of Hong Kong’s former democratic opposition—including legislators, district councillors, lawyers, academics, labor organizers and community activists—into national-security defendants. The sentences became a defining marker of the contraction of electoral competition and civil liberties after the 2020 National Security Law.