The European Union has criticized this Thursday the sentence "for political reasons" to ten years in prison imposed on the Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong for conspiring with foreign forces under the National Security Law promoted by Beijing, and has called for his "immediate release" in the face of the deterioration of the rule of law in Hong Kong.
"The European Union deplores the conviction for political reasons imposed today on the Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong, a particularly long prison sentence of ten years," a spokesperson for the European External Action Service (SEAE) said in a statement, in which he criticized the application of Chinese national security legislation to prosecute the opposition.
Along these lines, the Community bloc has emphasized that "the moment at which charges were brought and their political nature demonstrate a deterioration of the rule of law in Hong Kong," and has warned that this type of measure further damages the international image of the former British colony.
For this reason, the European Union has reiterated its request for Wong's "immediate release" and urged the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities to comply with their international legal obligations, including those set out in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration.
The European position comes after the High Court of Hong Kong sentenced Wong this Thursday to ten years in prison after admitting his guilt for conspiring to act in collusion with foreign forces, in a case linked to his efforts to push for international sanctions against the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities.
The judicial ruling identifies Wong and the exiled opposition figure Nathan Law as the main backers of a campaign launched in 2020 to pressure foreign governments, including that of the United States, so that they would impose sanctions on Beijing and on the Hong Kong Executive following the 2019 pro-democracy protests.