Hong Kong: RSF condemns the guilty verdict for Stand News editors in chief

After nearly 3 years and several postponements, on 29 August 2024 a Hong Kong court found the two former editors-in-chief of defunct online media Stand News, Chung Pui-kuenand Patrick Lam,guilty of publishing"seditious publications," in the first sedition case involving media since the United Kingdom handed the territory to China in 1997. The sentences for the journalists, who face up to two years in prison, are yet to be announced.

While the trial against Chung and Lam concludedon 29 June 2023, the verdict was postponed several times. The two journalists were detained for nearly a year and were only granted bail under the condition of not leaving the territory, reporting to the police weekly, and not giving interviews to the media. During the trial, at least 17 online articles published between July 2020 and December 2021 were presented by the prosecution, including interviews, profiles and opinion pieces.

A non-profit Chinese-language news site, Stand News was the second most influential independent media after Apple Daily, reaching over 1.7 million followers on Facebook and about 1 million on Instagram before it closed. On 29 December 2021, it was raidedby 200 police officers. Six of its journalists, including Chung and Lam, were arrestedby the police. Later the same day, Stand Newsannounced on social media it would cease publication and dismiss its employees as the company's assets, worth about 61 million Hong Kong dollars (7 million euros), were frozen by the government. Around 70 staff members lost their jobs.

A timeline of the harassment against Stand News

• December 2014: Stand Newsis established. Its founders decide that it will operate as a non-profit, giving up their holdings under a trust fund.
  
• 24 August 2018: Former chief executive Leung Chun-ying files for defamationagainst the media, alleging that they falsely associated him with the triads, organised crime groups from Hong Kong.
  
• 21 July 2019: Stand Newsreporter Gwyneth Hois assaulted while livestreaming the mob attackon passers-by in the Yuen Long district. The investigation conducted by the HK authorities was limited and lacked detail.
  
• 26 December 2019: During a protest, a police officer displaysthe ID card of the Stand NewsDeputy Assignment Editor Ronson Chanin front of a livestream camera, violating privacy laws.
  
• 19 January 2020: During a demonstration, a police officer flashesthe ID card of another reporter from Stand Newson a camera.
  
• 24 June 2021: Hong Kong police start archivingmore than 300 Stand Newsarticles on the same day that popular pro-democracy tabloid Apple Dailyshuts down.
  
• 29 December 2021: Police raid Stand News' office, freeze its assets and arrest six top executives. The outlet ceasesoperations, deleting its websites and social media.
  
• 11 April 2022:Veteran journalist and Stand Newscommentator Allan Au is detainedunder the sedition law in April 2022, but is released the same day without charges.
  
• 31 October 2022: The sedition trialagainst Stand Newsand its former editors-in-chief, Chung Pui-kuenand Patrick Lam,begins.
  
• 22 December 2022: A Hong Kong court rejects the editors' appealto drop the sedition charges on the grounds of improperly handled evidence.
  
• 29 June 2023: The trial, which was originally scheduled to close in November 2022, endsafter 56 days in court, despite initial plans for it to only last for 20 days.
  
• June-August 2024:The verdict is postponed several times as the judges wait for the Court of Appeal's decision in another sedition case.

• 29 August 2024: Chung Pui-kuenand Patrick Lamare found guilty of sedition.

Hong Kong ranks 135th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2024 World Press Freedom Index, plummeting down from 18th place in just two decades. China ranks 172nd of the 180 countries and territories surveyed.