Seven prominent democracy activists, including media mogul Jimmy Lai, were found guilty of unlawful assembly by a Hong Kong court.
The defendants, all of whom are over the age of 64, were charged for their participation in an Aug. 18, 2019, protest, according to Reuters. The protest took place amid a broader series of protests against mainland China for its assertion of more control over Hong Kong.
“I have found after trial the prosecution able to prove beyond reasonable doubt that all of the defendants together organized what amounted to an unauthorized assembly,” Judge Amanda Woodcock said in her written judgment on Thursday.
Woodcock noted that “restrictions are imposed” on the right to assembly, “including those for preserving public safety and public order, and protecting the rights of others.”
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The judge reportedly granted the defendants bail, and they will be sentenced on April 16. The maximum possible sentence they face is five years.
Lai, a frequent critic of China, has been arrested multiple times in the last year. In August, authorities arrested him under a strict national security law passed in June 2020. At the time, Lai said Beijing's crackdown against him was meant to intimidate him. Authorities subsequently charged him under the law in December for allegedly colluding with foreign forces.
Lai was reportedly arrested again in December while he was in jail for allegedly assisting one of 12 fugitives China captured at sea last year.
“Peaceful assembly is not a crime,” Leung Kwok-hung, one of the seven defendants, shouted as he entered the court and reportedly continued to do so once he was inside.
Martin Lee, nicknamed Hong Kong’s “father of democracy,” is also among the group of defendants.
Thursday's verdict came a day after the U.S. State Department released its Hong Kong Policy Act report, which it submits to Congress every year, detailing the conditions of Hong Kong-China relations.
“Over the past year, the People’s Republic of China has continued to dismantle Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy, in violation of its obligations under the Sino-British Joint Declaration and Hong Kong’s Basic Law,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
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“Hong Kong law provides protections for freedom of speech, but the government regularly took actions inconsistent with this right [since June 2020],” the report said.
