Andy Li and Chan Tsz-Wah guilty plea shows 'mainlandisation of Hong Kong is seeping into the courts'

Hong Kong activist Andy Li and paralegal Chan Tsz-wah have pleaded guilty to taking part in a conspiracy to collude with foreign forces along with pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai.

Li and Chan will be sentenced under the Beijing-imposed security legislation next year, after they appeared before Judge Alex Lee on Thursday and admitted the offence.

Andy Li was one of 12 Hong Kong young people to be held in incommunicado detention in mainland China for six months after attempting to flee the city.

Johnny Patterson, Policy Director of Hong Kong Watch, said: "It is hard to imagine what Andy Li has been through since the trumped up National Security charges were first levelled against him in August 2020.

Held for six months in arbitrary detention in mainland China, he will have almost definitely faced torture and intimidation ahead of today's plea.

His current show trial on vague and absurd charges of "collusion with foreign forces" is another dark day on Hong Kong's road to authoritarianism. The case shows that the mainlandisation of Hong Kong is seeping into the legal system. Testimonies which are likely to have come under duress should be rejected out of hand, not accepted as reliable. The guilty plea only shows that both he and Chan Tsz-Wah no longer believe you can get a fair trial in Hong Kong."