Hong Kong teen Tony Chung hit with secession charge

A Hong Kong activist has been charged with secession, the first public political figure to be prosecuted under the sweeping new national security law.

Tony Chung, standing at a stairwell he says police for the new national security unit took him after he was detained when walking in August. Picture: AFP

A teenage Hong Kong activist was charged on Thursday with secession, the first public political figure to be prosecuted under a sweeping new national security law Beijing imposed on the city.

Tony Chung, 19, appeared in court charged with secession, money laundering and conspiring to publish seditious content, two days after he was arrested in a Hong Kong coffee shop opposite the US consulate.

Mr Chung is a former member of Student Localism, a small group that advocated the former British colony and regional financial hub’s independence from mainland China.

The group disbanded its Hong Kong network shortly before Beijing blanketed the city in its new security law in late June, but it has kept its international chapters going.

Mr Chung and three other members of Student Localism were first arrested by a newly created national security police unit in July on suspicion of inciting secession via social media posts.

However, Mr Chung was arrested again on Tuesday morning by plainclothes police just metres away from the US consulate.

He was held by police until his appearance in court on Thursday morning, and was denied bail.

AFP