Hong Kong courts still handling around 70 cases linked to 2019 protests

2026-01-25 - 21:07

The Hong Kong Judiciary is still processing around 70 court cases related to the 2019 protests and unrest, more than six years after the demonstrations rocked the city. Police officers and a police dog outside the West Kowloon Law Courts Building on December 15, 2025, when media mogul Jimmy Lai heard the verdict in his national security case. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. In its annual report for the 2025 legal year, published on Monday, the Judiciary said it continued to give priority “to complex cases arising from the 2019 civil disorder and to national security matters,” of which around 100 remained. Around 70 cases relating to the 2019 protests and unrest, and about 30 national security-related cases, are still under way, according to the report. Most are scheduled for trial in 2026, and following their conclusion, the average waiting times for other court cases are expected to decrease. The Judiciary said there were “heavy caseloads and a significant number of complex civil and criminal cases requiring long trials” last year, but that the number of cases concluded was still comparable to that in 2024. More than six years since the protests in 2019, some who were arrested are still in limbo. In some cases, protesters were acquitted of charges relating to the demonstrations, but found themselves back in court after the government appealed. Chief Justice Andrew Cheung during the opening ceremony of the legal year at Edinburgh Place on January 19, 2026. Photo: GovHK. Hong Kong’s legal year opened on Monday with a traditional speech by Andrew Cheung, Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal. During his speech, Cheung defended the city’s courts and said calls to release pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai “strike at the very heart of the rule of law.” Lai, who was found guilty in December of conspiring to commit foreign collusion and of publishing seditious materials, is among those whose cases are still being processed. Mitigation hearings finished last week, though the judges have not said when they will hand down a sentence to the 78-year-old. Meanwhile, the national security trial of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China will begin on Thursday, following multiple delays. It was originally scheduled to start last year. The group was known for organising annual candlelight vigils to commemorate the victims of the Tiananmen crackdown, which occurred on June 4, 1989. Three former members of the group – lawyer-activist Chow Hang-tung, and former pro-democracy lawmakers Lee Cheuk-yan and Albert Ho – were charged alongside the vigil group, with inciting subversion of state power under the Beijing-imposed national security law.