Four former pro-democracy lawmakers in Hong Kong have been released from prison after serving time for their involvement in an unofficial 2020 primary election.
Claudia Mo, Gary Fan, Jeremy Tam, and Kwok Ka-ki were the first group of 45 democrats to be discharged from prison in the early morning of Tuesday after being sentenced in the city’s largest national security trial, which concluded in November.
Mo was released from the Lo Wu Correctional Institution, while Fan left Lantau’s Shek Pik Prison. Tam and Kwok, former leading members of the disbanded Civic Party, were discharged from Stanley Prison.
According to an HKFP journalist on the scene, the police barred the media from waiting for Fan at the main entrance of Shek Pik Prison. Members of the press had to wait on a bridge near Shek Pik Reservoir, overlooking the facility.
At 5.39am, a seven-seater vehicle left the prison, followed shortly by another private vehicle and a taxi. The private vehicles had curtains, with Fan believed to be in one of them.
Police set up a cordon on the bridge to prevent journalists from chasing after the vehicles.
The other three democrats left their respective detention facilities in the early hours of Tuesday under similar arrangements, according to local media reports.
HKFP has reached out to the Correctional Services Department for confirmation.
Local media outlet HK01 captured Fan on video when he arrived at his residence in Tseung Kwan O. The ex-legislator said he was heading home to reunite with his family and thanked Hongkongers and the media for their concern.
Journalists also visited Mo’s home. Her husband, Philip Bowring, confirmed with reporters that Mo was inside the flat and resting, adding she was “well and in good spirits.”
Inside the living room of Mo’s home, there was a banner, reading: “Welcome Home Mum.”
The four pro-democracy figures were sentenced to four years and two months in jail after pleading guilty to the charge of conspiracy to commit subversion.
Their release came after the court deducted from the sentences the time they had spent in detention since late February 2021, when their police bail was revoked. After being formally brought to court in March that year, the court refused to grant them bail pending trial on national security grounds.
The four were among the defendants who received the shortest prison terms. The longest jail sentence – 10 years – was given to former law professor Benny Tai, who was described as the “mastermind” behind the election plan by three handpicked national security judges presiding over the case.
The high-profile case centred on an unofficial primary election held in July 2020 that aimed to help the pro-democracy camp win a controlling majority in the legislature.
The judges ruled that the democrats had planned to use their constitutional powers to veto the government budget, ultimately forcing the resignation of the chief executive and a government shutdown.
This, they ruled, would have resulted in a “constitutional crisis.”
In the judges’ reasoning for the sentences, Mo, Fan, Tam, and Kwok were given a one-third reduction in jail time for their guilty plea, along with a further three-month discount for their past public service and “ignorance of the law.”
Beijing inserted national security legislation directly into Hong Kong’s mini-constitution in June 2020 following a year of pro-democracy protests and unrest. It criminalised subversion, secession, collusion with foreign forces and terrorist acts – broadly defined to include disruption to transport and other infrastructure. The move gave police sweeping new powers and led to hundreds of arrests amid new legal precedents, while dozens of civil society groups disappeared. The authorities say it restored stability and peace to the city, rejecting criticism from trade partners, the UN and NGOs.
