HK protest: ‘Sentencing will send a signal to the world’
The sentencing of seven of Hong Kong’s most prominent pro-democracy campaigners for unlawful assembly will send a message not just to Hong Kong, but to Beijing and the rest of the world about whether there is still an independent judiciary, the former Democratic Party chairperson and legislator Emily Lau has said.
“We would like to think that our judges, our courts are still independent, objective, free and fair,” she told BBC World News.
“Some people of course don’t believe it anymore, I still have some hope that we still have some form of independent judiciary,” she said.
All seven campaigners had pleaded not guilty but now face time in jail and will be sentenced at a later date.
Two other activists had earlier pleaded guilty and face up to five years in prison.
