A Hong Kong court on Tuesday sentenced 45 former politicians and activists in a mass trial that has decimated the city’s once vibrant pro-democracy opposition and served as a warning that resistance to Beijing can be costly.

周二，香港一家法院宣布了45名前政界人士和活动人士的刑期。这场大规模的审判彻底摧毁了香港一度活跃的亲民主反对派，同时也发出警告：反抗北京的代价可能是高昂的。

The landmark trial is the most forceful use of a national security law Beijing imposed on Hong Kong in 2020 in response to months of large protests against Chinese rule. The prosecution of the activists, the vanguard of Hong Kong’s opposition, has delivered what experts described as a knockout blow to hopes for democracy in the city.

这场里程碑审判是北京对2020年在香港实施的国家安全法的最有力运用，该法是对持续数月的反对中国统治的大规模抗议活动的回应。专家称，领导香港反对派的活动人士遭起诉一事对香港的民主希望造成了沉重打击。

Their offense, according to the authorities: holding or taking part in an unofficial primary election.

根据当局的说法，他们的罪行是：举行或参加非官方的初选。

In one fell swoop in 2021, the authorities arrested Benny Tai, 60, a legal scholar and opposition strategist; Joshua Wong, 28, a prominent pro-democracy activist; and dozens of others, including veteran former lawmakers and younger politicians who called for self-determination for Hong Kong.

2021年，当局逮捕了60岁的法律学者、反对派策略师戴耀廷、28岁的著名民主活动人士黄之锋以及其他数十人，包括呼吁香港自决的资深前议员和年轻政界人士。

Mr. Tai was sentenced on Tuesday to 10 years in prison. Several opposition politicians and activists, including Au Nok Hin, Andrew Chiu and Ben Chung, were handed terms of around six and seven years each. Mr. Wong was given a sentence of about four years and eight months.

周二，戴耀廷被判处10年有期徒刑。区诺轩、赵家贤和钟锦麟等几名反对派政界人士和活动人士分别被判处六年和七年左右的刑期。黄之锋获刑四年零八个月。

The trial made clear that any form of dissent or criticism, however moderate, carried significant risk, analysts said. “If you are being critical of the authorities both in Hong Kong and in China, then it’s open season,” Steve Tsang, a Hong Kong-born political scientist and director of the SOAS China Institute in London, said in an interview.

分析人士说，这次审判清楚地表明，无论多么温和，任何形式的异议或批评都存在重大风险。“如果你对香港和中国当局都持批评态度，那么现在就是遭到围猎的时候了，”生于香港的政治学家、伦敦SOAS中国研究所主任曾锐生在接受采访时说。

The ruling Communist Party in China says the law is needed to purge threats to Beijing’s sovereignty, but human rights activists, scholars and Western governments have said that it has eroded Hong Kong’s once-vaunted judicial independence.

执政的中国共产党表示需要通过国安法来清除对北京主权的威胁，人权活动人士、学者和西方国家政府则认为，这项法律削弱了香港一度引以为豪的司法独立。

The case demonstrates how the national security law has reshaped Hong Kong’s political and legal landscape.

该案显示了国家安全法如何重塑香港的政治和法律格局。

2021 年，民主活动人士戴耀廷（中）在香港被控违反香港的国家安全法。

Even before their sentences were handed down, many of the defendants had already been in jail for nearly four years, as they awaited and then stood trial. That was because the law has made it harder for defendants to be released on bail, which in most nonviolent cases is routinely granted.

甚至在宣判之前，许多被告已经在监狱里度过了近四年，等待审判及出庭。这是因为安全法使得被告更难获得保释，而在大多数非暴力案件中，被告通常会得到保释。

The trial was so big that the courthouse had to create what it called a “mega courtroom” to accommodate all the defendants on long benches behind a glass partition. Instead of a jury, the case is being heard by three judges handpicked by the city’s Beijing-backed leader, as allowed by the law.

审判规模很大，法院不得不设置一个所谓的“超大法庭”，把所有被告安置在包着玻璃隔板的长板凳上。按照法律规定，此案由三位法官而不是由陪审团审理，法官由支持北京的香港领导人亲自挑选。

Prosecutors accused the defendants of “conspiracy to commit subversion,” a national security offense, arguing that the objective of the election primary, which was held in 2020, was to “undermine, destroy or overthrow the existing political system and structure of Hong Kong.”

检方指控被告犯有“串谋颠覆国家政权罪”，并称2020年举行的选举初选的目的是“破坏、摧毁或推翻……现行香港特区政治制度和架构”。

The pro-democracy camp had said that the primary vote was little different from others held in democracies around the world. More than 600,000 people cast votes, choosing candidates who were prominent supporters of the antigovernment demonstrations that had gripped the city for months. The hope was to maximize the camp’s chances of gaining more seats in a legislative chamber that already heavily favors the Beijing-backed establishment.

亲民主派曾表示，香港的初选与世界各地民主国家的初选没有什么不同。超过60万人参加了投票，选出的候选人是几个月来席卷香港的反政府示威活动的主要支持者。这样做的目的是尽可能增加该阵营在立法会获得更多席位的机会，立法院本已经严重偏向北京支持的建制派。

But they never had a chance to test the plan: The election was postponed, and most of the candidates were arrested.

但他们从未有机会检验这个计划：选举被推迟，大多数候选人被捕。

Mr. Tai, the legal scholar who was sentenced to 10 years, had designed the electoral strategy, and prosecutors deemed him a mastermind.

被判10年徒刑的法律学者戴耀廷设计了选举策略，被检方认定为主谋。

Other defendants included Leung Kwok-hung, a 68-year-old activist known as Long Hair for his unkempt mane, who was sentenced to 6 years and 9 months; Claudia Mo, 67, a veteran former lawmaker, sentenced to 4 years and 2 months; Lam Cheuk-ting, 47, a former anti-corruption investigator, sentenced to 6 years and 9 months; and Gwyneth Ho, 32, a former journalist who was known for covering a mob attack on antigovernment demonstrators trapped in a subway station, sentenced to 7 years.

其他被告包括68岁的活动人士、因留了一头蓬乱长发而绰号“长毛”的梁国雄，被判处六年零九个月徒刑；67岁的前资深国会议员毛孟静获刑四年零二个月；47岁的前廉政调查员林卓廷获刑六年零九个月；32岁的何桂蓝曾是一名记者，因报道暴徒袭击被困在地铁站的反政府示威者闻名，她被判处七年徒刑。

Mr. Tai and 30 other defendants had pleaded guilty. The court convicted 14 in May and acquitted two others.

戴耀廷和其他30名被告已经认罪。今年5月，法院宣判14人有罪，另外两人无罪。

Thomas Kellogg, the executive director of the Georgetown Center for Asian Law, said that the politicians who had been arrested had not engaged in activity that would be considered criminal in a place that respected human rights.

乔治敦亚洲法律中心的执行主任托马斯·凯洛格说，被捕的政界人士从事的活动，在一个尊重人权的地方不会被视为犯罪。

“I think that this case will be seen by many in the international community as the final nail in the coffin for the rule of law in Hong Kong,” he said.

“我认为国际社会的许多人会把这个案件视为香港法治棺材上的最后一颗钉子，”他说。

Despite the prospect of more prison time, some defendants were simply anxious for the trial that had left their lives in limbo to come to a conclusion, according to friends who had visited them.

据拜访过他们的朋友说，尽管可能会遭受更多的监禁时间，但一些被告只是急切地希望，这场让他们的生活陷入悬而不决状态的审判能有个结果。

Ahead of the sentencing, Emilia Wong, a gender rights activist, said in an interview that her boyfriend, Ventus Lau, an organizer of the 2019 antigovernment protests, had been studying to earn a degree in translation. She said she had been regularly visiting him in detention for the past three years, but it was clear the isolation was taking a toll on him.

在宣判前，2019年反政府抗议活动的组织者刘颖匡的女友、性别权利活动人士黄于乔接受采访说，刘颖匡一直在攻读翻译学位。过去三年里，她经常去看望被拘押的男友，但很明显，与外界隔绝对他造成了伤害。

“The scary thing about prison is not being locked up in one place. It is the loss of connection with people and society that is scary. To him, it was painful,” she said.

“监狱的可怕之处不在于被关在一个地方。与人、与社会失去联系才是可怕的。对他来说，这很痛苦，”她说。