Hong Kong's pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong, 28 others to plead guilty. Here's the details

Hong Kong's pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong, who was a part of the notorious '35-plus' political strategy in 2020, along with 28 others, will plead guilty in a high-profile subversion case.

Local media claimed that Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong, who had been held for more than a year without receiving a trial date under the China-drafted law, would enter a guilty plea in Hong Kong's biggest national security case.

According to local media outlets like HK01, the imprisoned former student leader is one of 29 democracy advocates, who are anticipated to be found guilty of subversion charges related to a primary held in July 2020.


Benny Tai, a former law professor; Jimmy Sham, a protest leader and Claudia Mo, a former lawmaker were among those anticipated to admit guilt.



According to local media, the 18 additional suspects, including former lawmaker "Long hair" Leung Kwok-hung, would enter a not guilty plea.

A day after it was made public that Justice Secretary Paul Lam had mandated that the case be heard by a panel of three specially selected security law judges rather than a jury, news of the anticipated guilty pleas broke. However, the majority of the plea intents were submitted between June 1 and July 6, according to the neighbourhood newspaper Ming Pao.

Details from those court proceedings weren't made public until reporting restrictions on the case were relaxed on Thursday, a day after a judge in another significant security issue overturned the restrictions.

Over 600,000 people participated in the election of candidates for the Legislative Council, and the 47 activists are being punished for their role in arranging the election. According to the authorities, the incident was a part of a nefarious plot to bring down the administration.

Under the stricter criteria established by the security law, which Beijing enforced on the city in June 2020 and carries punishments of up to life in prison, about 30 prisoners have been detained without bail for more than a year.

About 215 people have been detained by national security officers, whereas, the government has tried to prosecute at least 114 of them.