In May, a court rejected Lai’s bid to halt his security trial on grounds that it was being heard by judges picked by Hong Kong’s leader. That is a departure from the common law tradition China promised to preserve for 50 years after the former British colony returned to China in 1997.
Don’t tell me that British laws are actually that corrupt. No way, right?
You are misunderstanding what it means. The article specifically about this explains it better:
When Hong Kong returned to China in 1997, it was promised that trials by jury, previously practiced in the former British colony, would be maintained under the city’s constitution. But in a departure from the city’s common law tradition, the security law allows no-jury trials for national security cases.
What is the context behind this?
2019 HK protests and CCP’s crackdown on its free press.
I know that, what did this guy actually do?
The case against him is for collusion with foreign forces to undermine national security.
That is a very different thing from simply being “pro democracy”, they charged rioters in the US with this excuse and they were also calling themselves pro democracy.
Still can’t find a clear answer to my question on Google, smells weird to me.
It’s difficult to find information on Google because vague terms like “pro-democracy” are used leaving the readers to imagine what it means.
I got what I told you from this Reuters article: https://www.reuters.com/world/china/national-security-trial-hong-kong-pro-democracy-tycoon-postponed-next-sept-2022-12-13/
