Hong Kong 47: ex-lawmaker says ‘radicals’ forced her to back 2020 subversion bid

A former lawmaker affiliated with Hong Kong’s largest opposition party has sought leniency in a subversion case, arguing “radical” competitors pressured her into backing a conspiracy to topple the government through a 2020 unofficial legislative primary election.

Helena Wong Pik-wan’s legal team on Wednesday sought a jail term limit of three years under the Beijing-decreed national security law over her “peripheral role” in the case implicating 45 opposition politicians and activists.

Mitigation proceedings for the city’s largest national security trial resumed at West Kowloon Court with submissions from a fourth batch of nine defendants, who had competed in the Kowloon West constituency and two functional sectors.

Ex-district councillor Lee Yue-shun, who was one of two defendants cleared in the trial, appeared in court for the first time since his acquittal was confirmed by prosecutors’ decision not to lodge an appeal.