Hong Kong authorities released four former Legislative Council members on Tuesday after serving their sentences for participating in Hong Kong's unofficial primary election in 2020. They were convicted of conspiracy to subvert state power under the Hong Kong National Security Law for participating in the city's unofficial primary election in 2020, according to local media reports.
Mao Mong-ching, Tam Wing-ho, Kwok Ka-ki, and Fan Kwok-wai were four of the 47 Democratic Party members arrested for participating in the primary election, a case known as the "47 Case." After a 118-day trial, only two were acquitted; the others were sentenced in November 2024 to prison terms ranging from four to ten years. The four were held in Stanley Prison on Hong Kong Island, Shek Pik Prison on Lantau Island, and Lo Wu Correctional Institution in the New Territories. On the 29th, they became the first of the 47 to be released. Four of them were banned from politics for life.
According to the Associated Press and Hong Kong 01, early Tuesday morning, vehicles drove out of three prisons under tight police blockades, with curtains drawn. Afterward, police officers on the scene told reporters that all four had left.
It is reported that Mao Mengjing's husband Philip Bowring told reporters outside her residence that Mao Mengjing is currently recuperating and is not available for interviews at the moment.
"She's doing well and in good spirits," he said. "We're looking forward to this first reunion."
In the case of 47 people, the alleged mastermind, Hong Kong University law professor Benny Tai, was sentenced to 10 years in prison, the heaviest sentence. Mao Mengjing and four others received commuted sentences after pleading guilty, and received the shortest sentences among the four in the Hong Kong 47 case.
Beijing has attempted to undermine Hong Kong's autonomy for years. In 2020, it bypassed the Hong Kong Legislative Council (LegCo) to draft and pass the Hong Kong National Security Law. Despite warnings that this could violate the broadly defined new security law, the primary election went ahead as planned in July 2020 to help determine the Legislative Council election in September of that year. The unofficial primary saw high turnout, attracting over 600,000 voters.
The then Chief Executive of Hong Kong, Carrie Lam, later announced the postponement of the election originally scheduled for September 2020 due to the "new crown epidemic."
Since then, the Hong Kong government has amended the electoral system to ban democrats from running for election, and held a "patriots governing Hong Kong" election in December 2021, in which candidates must be reviewed and approved by a Beijing-backed committee.
On January 6, 2021, the National Security Bureau arrested 55 people on a large scale, eventually filing formal charges against 47 of them, including pro-democracy figures, and rejected bail applications from most of them.
