Reuters
A landmark national security trial for 16 Hong Kong democracy activists entered its final stretch on Wednesday, with a verdict expected in early 2024, nearly two years after they charged with conspiracy to commit subversion. On the first day of closing submissions, one of the handpicked national security judges, Andrew Chan, said a verdict would "tentatively" come in three to four months, with 10 days set aside for closing submissions. The legal saga began with police raids on more than 50 of the city's leading democrats in early 2021 under a sweeping China-imposed national security law, which has been criticised as a tool of repression by some Western governments, including the United States.