A Hong Kong court has begun sentencing key pro-democracy figures to jail for subversion, following a controversial national security trial.

Benny Tai and Joshua Wong were among the first of the so-called Hong Kong 47 group to be sentenced. Tai received 10 years while Wong received more than four years, for their roles in a plan to pick opposition candidates for local elections.

A total of 47 activists, opposition lawmakers and ordinary persons organised or took part in the plan. Most of them were found guilty of conspiring to attempt subversion.

Their trial marked the largest use of the harsh national security law which China imposed on Hong Kong shortly after the city’s explosive pro-democracy protests in 2019.