香港から台湾密航試みた１２人、本土で拘束　不透明な司法に懸念

【香港ＡＦＰ＝時事】香港市民のホアンさん（16）がその夜受けたのは、すぐに出発せよとの電話だった。だが、高速のモーターボートで台湾に逃亡する試みは、失敗に終わった。（写真は中国・香港から撮影した対岸の本土・深セン塩田区の摩天楼）
　現在、中国本土で拘束されている香港の活動家１２人のうち、ホアンさんは最年少だ。１２人は、民主化を求める昨年の大規模抗議デモ関連の起訴を逃れようとしたが、ボートは中国沿岸警備隊に拿捕（だほ）された。それ以来、１２人は中国共産党が支配する本土の不透明な司法制度の中に消え、中国政府の独裁主義が香港に浸透しつつあるとの懸念が高まっている。
　ホアンさんに対する容疑は、火炎瓶を投げたとされることによる放火未遂だ。ホアンさんの年齢を考慮し、ＡＦＰはフルネームを公表しない。
　ホアンさんは家族とうまくいっておらず、香港での裁判を待つ間、政治的シンパのネットワークに迎え入れられた。
　３か月間、ホアンさんを自宅に住まわせ、香港での最後の夜まで一緒にいたダイアナさん（仮名）は、「最初に会ったときは、とても無口だった」とホアンさんの印象を振り返る。
　８月２３日未明にホアンさんは出て行き、ダイアナさんは一日中心配したという。何の連絡もなかったのだ。

■「夫の匂いが消えてしまいそうで、枕を洗っていない」
　香港では、他の１１家族も同様の苦しみを経験していた。
　同じボートに乗った技術者のウォン・ワイインさん（２９）は、逃亡計画については家族にも秘密にしていた。
　ウォンさんは香港で爆弾製造の重罪に問われており、姿を消すまでは、保釈中の出頭要請にその都度応じていた。ウォンさんが姿を消した後、妻と母親は最悪の事態を恐れて必死にウォンさんの所持品を調べた。そうして見つかったのは、万一の事態が起きた場合のウォンさんからの謝罪のメッセージだった。
　匿名を希望するウォンさんの妻は、「夫がいなくなってから、枕を洗っていません」とＡＦＰに語った。「いつか夫の匂いが消えてしまうのが怖いんです」

■容疑をかけられると有罪はほぼ確実
　８月２６日になってようやく事情が判明した。中国当局が、「違法な越境」をしていたとして香港市民１２人の逮捕を発表したのだ。
　その後、香港から南シナ海を横断して７００キロ以上離れた台湾にたどり着くという、大胆な試みの詳細が明らかになった。
　中国政府が香港の民主化運動を弾圧する中、民主的な台湾が避難場所として浮上している。台湾は、適正な査証（ビザ）や書類を持たない住民に目をつぶっている。しかし、新型コロナウイルスのパンデミック（世界的な大流行）下では、空路で台湾に行くことは困難になっており、民主化デモ関連の犯罪の容疑をかけられた人々はパスポートを押収されることも多いため、時に危険な旅となるボートによる渡航が唯一の選択肢になっていた。
　中国当局に逮捕された１２人は、「香港１２」と名付けられた。渡航半ばで捕まったことで知られる最初の香港市民だ。
　香港での起訴を逃れようと試みた１２人は、中国共産党が支配する独裁的な司法制度の下、さらに厳しい裁判を受けることになる。容疑をかけられると、有罪になるのはほぼ確実だ。
　香港では、逮捕された容疑者を４８時間以内に裁判所に引き渡すことができない場合、釈放しなければならない。だが、本土の司法制度は、はるかに不透明だ。
　当局は、１２人の逮捕を発表してから２０日後にようやく、広東省深セン市で全員を刑事事件で勾留していることを認めた。
　中国政府と香港当局は、今なお１２人の氏名を公表していない。
　親中派の香港政府は、香港市民の送還を求めるのは、中国本土での当該犯罪の手続きが済んでからだと明言している。
　中国本土の担当弁護人の一人、ルー・シーウェイ氏は、当局がこの１２人を起訴するか否かを決定するのは１０月初旬になるだろうとの考えを示し、「検察側が不当逮捕という判断を下した場合は、１０月１日までに保釈または無条件釈放となるはずだ」との自身の法的見解を述べた。「逮捕が正当なものと認められれば、引き続き勾留され、有罪になる可能性が非常に高い」 【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/09/28-17:24）

On the night he made a failed attempt to flee to Taiwan by speedboat, 16-year-old Hong Konger Hoang received a phone call, signalling it was time to leave at once.
The teenager is the youngest of a dozen Hong Kong activists now in mainland Chinese custody after trying to escape prosecution over last year's huge democracy protests, their boat captured by the Chinese coastguard.
They have since disappeared into the mainland's opaque and party-controlled justice system, compounding fears in Hong Kong that Beijing's authoritarianism is creeping into the finance hub.
Hoang was facing a charge of attempted arson for allegedly throwing petrol bombs. AFP is withholding his full name because of his age.
He has a troubled relationship with his family and was taken in by a network of politically sympathetic locals while he awaited trial in Hong Kong.
When we first met, he barely talked, recalled Diana, who housed Hoang for three months and was with him during what ended up being his final night in the city.
It's hard to get close to his heart as he protects himself so much and struggles to connect with strangers, she added, asking to use a pseudonym.
Hoang's behaviour that night did not strike Diana as all that unusual, she recalled.
The youngster walked out the door in the early hours of August 23. But within a day Diana was worried. She had not heard anything from him.
- 'I haven't washed his pillow' -
Across the city, 11 other families were going through a similar ordeal.
Wong Wai-yin, a 29-year-old technician who was also on the boat, kept his escape plans secret from his family.
He is facing serious charges in Hong Kong of manufacturing explosives, and until he vanished had attended his bail appointments regularly.
After he disappeared, his wife and mother frantically searched his belongings, fearing the worst when they came across a message apologising should anything bad happen to him.
I haven't washed his pillow since he disappeared, Wong's wife told AFP, requesting anonymity. I am afraid that I will lose his smell some day.
Rumours soon began circulating among friends, relatives and activist networks that the group had been apprehended. But it was not until August 26 that confirmation came.
That day Chinese authorities announced that 12 Hong Kongers had been arrested making an illegal border crossing.
A pro-Beijing newspaper then published the names of those on board and details of the charges they faced in Hong Kong.
Details later emerged of an audacious but ultimately doomed attempt to reach Taiwan -- over 700 kilometres (430 miles) away, across the South China Sea.
As Beijing has cracked down on Hong Kong's democracy movement, democratic Taiwan has emerged as a sanctuary, quietly turning a blind eye to residents turning up without proper visas or paperwork.
Flying to Taiwan has become harder during the coronavirus pandemic and those charged with protest-linked crimes have often had passports confiscated, leaving a potentially perilous boat crossing as the only option.
The Hong Kong 12, as the group were named, are the first known Hongkongers to be caught making the journey.
- Party-controlled justice -
After trying to escape prosecution in Hong Kong, the fugitives now face a much starker legal battle inside authoritarian China's party-controlled judicial system, where conviction for those charged is almost guaranteed.
In Hong Kong, anyone arrested must be released if police fail to present them in court within 48 hours. The city's common law legal system, including trial by jury in an open court, is internationally respected.
Across the border the system is much more opaque.
Authorities only confirmed the group were in criminal detention in the neighbouring mainland Chinese city of Shenzhen 20 days after their arrests were announced.
Even now neither Beijing nor Hong Kong authorities have officially released their names.
In a joint press conference earlier this month, some family members said mainland lawyers they had appointed were repeatedly denied access to their clients, while others were warned not to talk to journalists.
The accused, the families were told, had been given government-assigned lawyers.
Hong Kong's pro-Beijing government has made clear it will only seek the return of city residents once they have been processed for any relevant crimes on the mainland.
Lu Siwei, one of the mainland lawyers working on the case, believes authorities will likely make a decision on whether to charge the fugitives in early October.
If the prosecutors do not approve the arrest, the 12 Hong Kong residents should be granted bail or unconditional release by October 1, Lu wrote in his legal opinion.
If the arrest is approved, they will continue to be detained and the possibility of conviction will be very high.