The former vice-chairman of the Hong Kong Association, Zou Xingtong (right), and the former chairman, Li Zhuoren, respectively appealed the conviction and sentence. The two had previously been convicted by the court of “inciting others to subvert the state regime” and sentenced to prison for seven years and seven years and three months.
Following Zou Xingtong, former vice-chairman of the Hong Kong Association, former chairman Li Zhuoren also appealed the convictions and sentences in the sedition and subversion case involved.
According to the Hong Kong Star Island Daily and Mingbao, Li Zhuoren appealed on Thursday (October 8) for his conviction and sentence. Zou Xingtong also appealed on Monday (October 5) for his conviction and sentence. According to the website of the Hong Kong judiciary, the case hearing has not been scheduled.
In September 2021, the disbanded Hong Kong Association, Li Zhuoren, Zou Xingtong and another former vice-chairman, He Junren, were convicted on August 21 of inciting others to organize, plan, carry out or participate in carrying out acts aimed at subverting the state regime by illegal means, i.e., to overthrow, destroy the fundamental institutions established by the Constitution of the People‘s Republic of China, or to overthrow the central regime.
The court sentenced the three former leaders of the aforementioned branch associations on September 11th to imprisonment for seven years, He Junren for five years and two months, and Zou Xingtong for seven years and three months. All three defendants have been detained for more than 1,300 days, and are expected to be released from prison only from 2028 to 2030. The branch associations were sentenced to a fine of HK $ 1.5 million (S$ 240,000), which must be paid within three months.