Trials for 10 people accused of attempting to flee Hong Kong by speedboat for Taiwan amid a government crackdown on dissent got under way in China yesterday, a court official said.
The defendants face charges of illegally crossing the border, while two face additional charges of organizing the attempt, according to an indictment issued in Shenzhen.
A spokesperson for the Yantian District People’s Court in Shenzhen said that the trials began yesterday afternoon as scheduled.
Photo: AFP
The spokesperson declined to give her name, as is usual among Chinese court officials.
The families of seven of those charged received telephone calls from their court-appointed lawyers saying trials would begin yesterday, a member of the 12 Hongkongers Concern Group told reporters.
The families had called for the hearing in the Shenzhen court to be broadcast live, after they were unable to attend due to the short notice for the trial and COVID-19 quarantine requirements.
Photo: EPA-EFE
They were only notified of the trial date on Friday, while their lawyers have been barred from meeting with the detainees. Chinese authorities instead appointed state-approved legal representation.
Asked about the case, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Zhao Lijian (趙立堅) said it was “currently being processed,” but did not confirm the trial had begun.
“The people concerned are suspected of illegally crossing or organizing others to cross the border and are being prosecuted according to the law,” Zhao told reporters at a daily briefing in Beijing.
He dismissed a US embassy statement on the case as interference in China’s “judicial sovereignty.”
Separate hearings were expected for two minors who were also aboard the boat that was apparently heading for Taiwan when it was stopped by the Chinese coast guard on Aug. 23. One is just 16.
Relatives of the 12 have said that the accusations against them are politically motivated.
In a joint letter over the weekend, the families said they “strongly condemn” the authorities’ decision to hold the trial in “de facto secret” at Yantian District People’s Court.
“We urge governments to send embassy personnel to the hearing to guarantee a proper and fair trial by the courts in Shenzhen,” they said, noting that those detained include British, Portuguese and Vietnamese nationals.
The defendants can be sentenced to up to a year in prison for crossing the border and seven years for organizing the trip.
They were picked up after entering mainland Chinese waters for crossing the maritime border without permission.
Amnesty International Hong Kong program manager Lam Cho Ming (林祖明) said in a statement that the group doubted the trials would be fair since defendants had been denied basic rights such as the ability to hire legal representation of their own choosing.
“China must guarantee that all 10 people whose case is set to be heard today, as well as the two others detained with them, get fair and public hearings,” Lam said. “They must also ensure that none of the 12 are subjected to torture or other ill-treatment.”
Amnesty said that the defendants were joining in the hearing by video link, apparently due to COVID-19 concerns, and that family members could not attend because of a required two-week quarantine period.
China has a history of putting dissidents on trial around the Christmas and New Year period to avoid Western scrutiny.
Additional reporting by AFP
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2