Forty-five pro-democracy activists, journalists and ex-lawmakers were sentenced to prison terms of four to 10 years on Tuesday in Hong Kong’s largest national security trial. The case, rooted in their participation in a 2020 unofficial primary election,

The democracy advocates were charged in Hong Kong under a Beijing-imposed national security law in 2021 for their involvement in an unofficial primary election to pick opposition candidates.

Pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai said on Thursday he was against violence and had not sought to incite hatred against China and Hong Kong authorities by calling for protests to defend basic rights, speaking in his second day of testimony in a landmark national security trial.