Hong Kong’s Pro-democracy activist Tony Chung jailed by Beijing

Hong Kong’s pro-democracy activist Tony Chung, 20, has been sentenced to three years and seven months in prison for spreading disharmony.

Chung was tried under the new draconian “national security” law enforced by Beijing last year on Hong Kong citizens.

He faced charges of money laundering, provoking the people to demand their country’s independence, and “possessing” pro-independence material and making pro-independence social media posts.

Chung pleaded guilty to all charges including secession, and said he regrets nothing.

The new “national security” law prohibits Hong Kong citizens to talk against Beijing online and in both public and private. Chung had made the posts against Beijing before the laws were enacted, but that was overlooked as he was still charged and sentenced.

His sentence also marks the beginning of a long anticipated hunt by Beijing to choke the voices of young Hong Kong citizens.

Tony Chung was the leader of Studentlocalism, a pro-democracy student organization wanting independence from Beijing-controlled China.

His group is known to be behind the famous 2019 pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong that exposed Beijing’s hegemony.

He was arrested by Police in plain clothes, while trying to enter the US Consulate in October 2020 to seek asylum.

The draconian “national security” law

China imposed the “national security” law on Hong Kong in June of 2020.

The law restricts Hong Kong’s judicial autonomy, and makes it easier for Beijing to persecute protestors and freedom fighters all within the cloak of the law.

Under the new law, collusion with foreign governments, secession and subversion have been criminalized. They carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

The standards to judge on these charges are never guaranteed as anyone on the radar can be charged and punished at any time.

Beijing can now at any moment persecute those who speak or write even one word against it, and those who’ve done so in the past.

Since the law’s inception, Beijing has arrested about 200 journalists, activists and pro-democracy politicians. Half of them have been charged and now face an uncertain future because they demanded to be independent and have fundamental human rights.