Chung Pui-kuen, former editor-in-chief of the now-closed Hong Kong outlet Information from the standis launched on bail after being discovered responsible in a landmark sedition trial beneath a colonial-era regulation, on the Wanchai District Courtroom in Hong Kong on August 29, 2024. | Picture credit score: AP
Hong Kong pro-democracy media outlet Information from the stand and its two former editors-in-chief had been discovered responsible of sedition on Thursday, the primary such conviction because the metropolis got here beneath Chinese language rule in 1997.
The decision is a part of a crackdown on free speech within the former British colony that has seen critics of China jailed or pressured into exile following enormous pro-democracy protests in 2019.
Editors Chung Pui-kuen, 54, and Patrick Lam, 36, are the primary journalists to be convicted of sedition since Britain handed Hong Kong to China in 1997, and the ruling sparked fierce worldwide condemnation.
Mr. Chung and Mr. Lam had been in command of Information from the standa Chinese language-language web site that gained a big following in the course of the 2019 protests. On Thursday, the courtroom stated the 2 had been responsible of “conspiring to publish and reproduce seditious publications.”
The decide granted the duo bail forward of their sentencing on September 26.
