Pro-democracy activist Lester Shum, one of the ‘Hong Kong 47,’ released from jail – reports

2026-01-26 - 03:30

Pro-democracy activist Lester Shum, one of the opposition figures jailed in relation to the “Hong Kong 47” national security case, has been reportedly released from prison after completing a four-and-a-half-year sentence. Lester Shum. File photo: Karen Cheung/HKFP. Shum was released on Monday morning, according to local media. Photos show that two seven-seaters, with curtains drawn, exited Stanley Prison not long after 5.30 am on Monday. Shum could not be seen inside the vehicles. It has become standard practice for those jailed in the Hong Kong 47 case to be released from prison in vehicles with curtains drawn during the early morning. Some of them have been photographed by reporters when they arrived at their residences. Shum, a former student activist known as one of the leaders of the 2014 pro-democracy Umbrella Movement, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to subvert state power in the case, in which 47 prominent figures from Hong Kong’s pro-democracy camp were prosecuted under the Beijing-imposed national security law. Only two were acquitted. The trial revolved around an unofficial primary election in July 2020 that aimed to help the pro-democracy camp win a majority in the city’s legislature, following the massive protests and unrest in 2019. The group had threatened to veto government budgets once elected to the legislature and force the city’s leader to step down unless authorities met their political demands, including democratisation. In May 2024, three judges ruled the group would create a “constitutional crisis” with their scheme. Reuniting with wife The 45 defendants who were convicted were sentenced in November 2024 to jail terms of up to a decade. Many of them had already served over three years behind bars by that time, having been arrested in early 2021. A Correctional Services Department van arrives at the West Kowloon Law Courts on November 19, 2024. File photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. During mitigation hearings, Shum, who was elected a district councillor in 2019, told the court his past activism was sometimes fuelled by “anger,” “hatred,” or “resentment.” “To those who looked up to me to be a responsible public figure, I have let them down, and for that I am deeply remorseful, regretful and deeply apologetic,” Shum wrote in his mitigation letter. He added that his biggest wish was to return to his wife, whom he married shortly after his arrest, but had been separated from since he was remanded in custody about a month later. Shum also pleaded guilty in a separate case relating to his participation in the banned Tiananmen crackdown vigil in 2020. He was sentenced to six months in prison in that case. Shum is the 16th defendant in the case to have completed their prison terms. 29 remain behind bars, including legal scholar Benny Tai, who received 10 years, the longest sentence in the case.