Trial Over, Verdicts To Come Later: Shenzhen Court

A court in Shenzhen said on Monday that it had heard the trial of 10 Hongkongers accused of illegally entering mainland waters and it would announce the verdicts at a later date.

The Yantian District People's Court said on its website that both the prosecution and the defence had put forward their cases.

Diplomats from a number of Western countries had attempted to watch the proceedings but were denied entry, while the families of the young Hongkongers were not given enough notice to attempt to travel to the court, given the mainland's 14-day quarantine requirement.

Despite this, the court said that as well as local lawmakers and press, "relatives" of the accused had sat in on the trial.

Activists in Hong Kong who have been helping the families said they were trying to work out who these "relatives" could have been.

The Save 12 Hong Kong Youths concern group said although the authorities had claimed the hearing would be open to the public, families, lawyers, journalists and diplomats were all refused access on the grounds that the courtroom was full, rendering it a "de facto secret trial".

"Regardless of the future development of the case, the basic rights of the 12 Hongkongers have already been deprived by the Chinese authority. The unfair court proceedings is evidence of an obvious, draconian political persecution," the group said.

"The families of the 12 have been in great agony throughout their detention. They are now only asking for the safety of their children and their earliest return to Hong Kong."

Prosecutors earlier said that eight of the group are accused of an illegal border crossing, while two face a more serious charge of organising the trip.

The remaining two detainees were not being put on trial, the authorities said, because they were minors. These two were to face a hearing with prosecutors instead, officials said.

The 12 were picked up by the Guangdong coast guard on August 23, allegedly as they were trying to flee to Taiwan from Hong Kong, where they had been accused of protest-related offences.