BEIJING – Trials for 10 people accused of attempting to flee Hong Kong by speedboat amid a government crackdown on dissent got underway in China on Monday, a court official said.The defendants face charges of illegally crossing the border, while two face additional charges of organizing the attempt, according to an indictment issued in the southern city of Shenzhen.
A spokesperson for the Yantian District People’s Court in Shenzhen, just across the border from Hong Kong, said the trials began Monday afternoon as scheduled and were ongoing.
The spokesperson declined to give her name, as is usual among Chinese court officials. The families of seven of those charged received phone calls from their court-appointed lawyers saying trials would.