On Tuesday, a court in Hong Kong sentenced dozens of prominent members of its pro-democracy movement to substantial prison terms following a significant trial that the city’s leadership has used to stifle criticisms of China.

45 members of the Hong Kong 47 were found guilty of conspiracy to commit subversion under the city’s national security law, and given penalties ranging from four to ten years in prison, the Telegraph reported. Civil liberties in Hong Kong have been suppressed by the Xi Jinping regime since pro-democracy demonstrations overtook the city in 2019.

In May of this year, two of the 47 were acquitted on charges while 14 members were convicted at trial. The remaining members entered guilty pleas. Nearly four years ago, Hong Kong 47, a diverse group of civil society members, were apprehended in dawn operations over its 2020 effort to hold an internal primary election to select candidates most likely to win seats in the city’s legislature later that year. Their objective was to achieve a blocking majority that would stymie the government and compel the chief executive to resign.

The Hong Kong 47 is composed of former elected officials, activists, journalists, trade union representatives, academics, social workers, and merchants, some of whom have been persistent political targets of Beijing.

Under the surveillance of a substantial police presence, hundreds of individuals filed in for sentencing at a court building in West Kowloon. Some of them even camped out overnight. 

The defendant box, which authorities had extended during the trial to facilitate the group’s size, was crowded with the 45 members of the group awaiting sentencing. The hearing was concluded in less than 20 minutes, which left some in attendance stunned by the rapidity of the proceedings.

“It’s really said,” a friend of one of the defendants told the Telegraph. “It’s very difficult for a lot of Hong Kong people seeing politicians, who are trying to do whatever they can within the legal framework, but who have been put into jail because of these so-called security arrangements.”

The sentencing was “strongly condemned” by a spokesperson for the US consulate in Hong Kong, who also stated that the defendants were “aggressively prosecuted and jailed for peacefully participating in normal political activity.”

Benny Tai, a legal academic and leader of Hong Kong 47, received a sentence of 10 years in prison, which was the harshest sentence imposed on the group. Other prominent group members that were sentenced were Joshua Wong, a former teenage activist, Claudia Mo, a former journalist, and Leung Kwok-Hung, a politician mostly known for his nickname “Long Hair.”