Hong Kong activist Andrew Chiu, who testified for the prosecution in exchange for a jail term reduction in the city’s landmark “47 democrats” subversion trial, has become the first person charged in the case to be granted early release from prison.
Chiu was freed on Tuesday on grounds of good behaviour in jail, according to local media reports that cited unnamed sources.
The 40-year-old ex-district councillor is the first in the subversion case, in which 47 democrats were charged, to receive a sentence reduction for good conduct while in prison, after the city’s Safeguarding National Security Ordinance – known locally as Article 23 – imposed a harsher threshold for national security offenders to obtain early release.
Chiu was jailed for seven years in November 2024 for conspiring to commit subversion under the Beijing-imposed national security law. He was among 45 convicted in the case, which was presided over by a panel of three judges designated to handle national security proceedings, while two were acquitted.
The group was prosecuted over an unofficial primary election in July 2020 that aimed to maximise the chances of the pro-democracy camp winning a majority in Hong Kong’s Legislative Council and to pressure the authorities to meet their political demands.
Prosecutors accused Chiu of being one of the five organisers of the primary election. During the trial, Chiu, who pleaded guilty, testified against his co-defendants as one of four prosecution witnesses in the case.
Chiu received a 50 per cent discount to his sentence and was jailed for seven years. He was originally expected to be freed in early 2028.
His unexpected release on Tuesday is a departure from the typical arrangements for national security offenders after Article 23 was enacted last year.
Under existing prison rules, a prisoner can be given a one-third sentence reduction for good conduct in jail.
However, the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance stipulates that authorities can deny early release if they believe doing so would be “contrary to the interests of national security.”
The sources quoted in local media reports said Chiu demonstrated “deep remorse” while in prison.
Separately, Andy Chui, an ex-district councillor also jailed in the case, was released on Monday after serving more than four and a half years behind bars, according to The Witness.
Chui was given a four-years-and-two-months jail term in the case and a six-months sentence in a separate unauthorised assembly case. The 58-year-old was seen leaving his home on Monday afternoon.
To date, 14 people charged in the landmark subversion case have been released from prison.
