Hong Kong schedules sentencing hearing for ‘Umbrella Nine’

ChinaAid

(Hong Kong—April 10, 2019) Hong Kong authorities scheduled the sentencing hearing of nine leaders of a prominent pro-democracy movement today, less than a day after they had been convicted.

The nine convicted, gained their nickname, the “Umbrella Nine” when they participated in a 2014 pro-democracy protest that garnered international media attention and became synonymous with the yellow umbrellas carried by the protestors. Prompted by a ruling that would give China more control over the election of Hong Kong officials, the accused, Eason Chung, Rev. Chu Yiu-ming, Raphael Wong, Tommy Cheung, Tanya Chan, Shiu Ka-chun, Lee Wing-tat, Benny Tai, and Chan Kin-man, took to the streets with thousands of other Hong Kong residents.

The movement, often termed the “Umbrella Movement,” lasted from Sept. 26-Dec. 15, 2014.

Yesterday, Chan Kin-man, Tai, and Chu were convicted of public nuisance, a charge from colonial Hong Kong that is seldom used today, and Tai, Chan Kin-man, Tanya Chan, Wong, Chung, Shiu, and Cheung were also found guilty of public nuisance instigation charges. In addition, Wong, Tanya Chan, Chung, Cheung, and Shiu face sentencing for causing others to instigate public nuisance.

In an article, the Los Angeles Times quoted Chu, who is a reverend, as saying before the court on Tuesday, “Today, old and gray, I find myself in the defendants’ dock, making a final plea as a convict. It looks so absurd. Yet my heart tells me that I have found the most honorable pulpit of my ministerial career.”

Today, Hong Kong officials set their sentence hearings for April 24.

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Hong Kong schedules sentencing hearing for ‘Umbrella Nine’

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