john king minix specs to be convicted but for now he runs while he's still free. but for how much longer we have with us now tom grundy he's editor in chief of the hong kong free press that was set up in response to the crackdown on press freedom in hong kong tom thanks so much for being with us and now the official charge in this trial is inciting a public nuisance but it's really about far more than that isn't. well yes the organizers of a thing one count of conspiracy to cause public nuisance inciting others to cause public nuisance and perhaps most confusing the inciting people to incite others to call public nuisance and these charges carry a maximum of seven years behind all the colonial era of all the two of you in the lot of other explanation cohen is often as critics say to stifle dissent. u.k. and peeves of all the charges vague and ambiguous some of the international call them chilling but for those on trial today they see it as part of the tradition of civil disobedience and they told us that they are very much ready to go to prison for. a time the hon

john king minix specs to be convicted but for now he runs while he's still free. let's go right to hong kong where our correspondent mathias building is standing by for us him at yes good to see you so as we had the protest leaders are facing seven years in jail for inciting public nuisance tell us what this charge is all about well it is the law that is applied here is the law from the kolo new era that was designed to crush dissent and now new hong kong's new power is using this law it is quite unprecedented and the construction of the prosecution is using here is quite unusual there is even one term that is used it's incitement to incite public monies and so this is kind of a very weak construction and it is widely seen as an attempt to intimidate protesters to intimidate civil society from protesting against hong kong's political situation and a serious charge there facing up to seven years in jail as we said mathias we heard that the political landscape has shifted since two thousand and fourteen has there also been a wider crackdown on dissent in the run up