The suspect also committed the crime of “inciting another person not to vote or to vote invalidly, through public activities during the electoral period”
Hong Kong police announced the arrest of a man suspected of sedition and calling for an invalid vote or boycott of the elections for the local parliament, scheduled for December 7th.
In a statement, the National Security Department (NSD) of the Hong Kong Police said the 68-year-old man was detained on Tuesday and “remains in custody for further investigation.”
The detainee is suspected of “knowingly publishing materials with seditious intent”, a crime punishable by the national security law, imposed by Beijing in 2020, which repressed political dissent in the semi-autonomous Chinese region.
The NSD added that the man also committed the crime of “inciting another person not to vote or to vote invalidly, through public activities during the election period”.
The investigation revealed that the detainee had “repeatedly published” messages on social media, “with content that incited hatred against the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the judiciary and the security forces”.
According to the news portal Hong Kong Free Press, NSD Superintendent Chan On-ming said at a press conference that the suspect had been publishing these types of messages since September 2024.
The crime of sedition is punishable by a maximum sentence of seven years in prison, while calling for an invalid vote or electoral boycott can carry a sentence of up to three years in prison and a fine of 200,000 Hong Kong dollars (22,200 euros).
Last Friday, Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) had already announced the arrest of three people, aged between 55 and 66, for allegedly calling for a null vote or a boycott of the elections for the Legislative Council.
The ICAC recalled that, since the revision of the electoral law, in 2021, 12 people were convicted of “publicly inciting voters not to vote, voting blank or invalid”, a crime punishable by a prison sentence of up to three years.
According to the local press, the Hong Kong police have already detained 18 people this year for electoral crimes, with eight already charged.
At the end of October, Hong Kong’s Secretary for Security, Chris Tang Ping-keung, recalled that calling for a blank vote in elections could constitute a crime.
Chris Tang recalled the statements of former deputy Ted Hui Chi-fung, who described the vote as “a farce, completely unrelated to public opinion”, which “deserves to be boycotted”, due to the exclusion of the pro-democracy opposition.
“If citizens really think a boycott is too much trouble, perhaps simply ignoring it altogether would better reflect the true feelings of Hong Kongers,” wrote Ted Hui, on the social network Facebook.
Ted Hui fled to Denmark in December 2020 and last August he received asylum in Australia, after being accused of crimes against national security in Hong Kong.
