The Consulate General of Sweden in Hong Kong shares a statement from the European External Action Service, calling the latest conviction of to former chief editors “another sign of the dwindling space for press freedom, a fundamental right enshrined in the Hong Kong Basic Law”.
Thursday (August 29), the District Court in Hong Kong found Chung Pui-kuen and Lam Shiu-tung, two former chief editors of the now-defunct independent online news outlet Stand News guilty of conspiring to publish and reproduce ‘seditious’ material. Best Pencil (Hong Kong) Limited, the holding company of Stand News, was also found guilty. The maximum sentence is two years’ imprisonment.
The European External Action Service yesterday shared af statement, which the Consulate General of Sweden in Hong Kong now has posed on their Facebook page, highlighting that the “EU calls on the Hong Kong authorities to restore confidence in press freedom in Hong Kong and to stop prosecuting journalists. The preservation of free, independent and pluralistic media is vital for resilient and healthy societies.”
Furthermore the statement reads that “the ruling risks further inhibiting the pluralistic exchange of ideas and the free flow of information, both cornerstones of the economic success of Hong Kong.”
