Hong Kong Free Press reports
Prosecutors submitted five black t-shirts printed with the words “I’d rather die speaking than live in silence” as evidence to the court on Wednesday – the second day of the city’s second national security trial where a protester has been charged with inciting secession.
Defendant Ma Chun-man, 30, was accused of allegedly calling for independence on 20 occasions in 2020. Once a regular sight at the 2019 protests and nicknamed “Captain America 2.0”, Ma has been in custody for 10 months since his arrest last November. He faces up to seven years imprisonment if convicted.
Tong Ying-kit, the first person convicted under the law after trial, was sentenced to nine years in prison in July for inciting secession and committing terrorism, in connection with flying a flag as he charged at a group of police officers on a motorcycle. He is appealing.
Ma, meanwhile, is on trial solely for the content of slogans he chanted and speeches he made in public or via social media.
‘Give me liberty or give me death’
On Wednesday morning, national security police witness Lee Wai-chun testified on details of Ma’s arrest last September and a subsequent raid on his home, where police found a total of five identical black t-shirts in his bedroom.
The t-shirts were printed with the words in Chinese: “I’d rather die speaking than live in silence,” and in English: “Give me liberty or give me death.”
