Jury finds one guilty in city's first anti-terrorism trial, six acquitted

Six out of the seven defendants in Hong Kong's first anti-terrorism law trial have been acquitted of their charges relating to conspiring to place explosives as well as conspiring to murder police.

Seven out of the nine-member jury have found 30-year-old Lai Chun-pong to be the only convicted defendant after the High Court handed down the verdict on Thursday.

Lai was found guilty of an alternative charge of conspiring to cause explosions likely to endanger life or property damage.

The trial involves seven defendants -- six men and a woman all from a radical opposition group known as the "Dragon Slaying Brigade" -- accused of plotting to detonate bombs and use firearms to target police during the Human Rights Day march on December 8, 2019.

Apart from Lai, the remaining five male suspects Cheung Chun-fu, Cheung Ming-yu, Yim Man-him, Christian Lee Ka-tin and Justin Hui Cham-wing were acquitted from a joint conspiracy of targeting specific objects with explosive devices, conspiracy to cause explosions likely to endanger life or property damage, and the alternative charge of conspiring to murder police.

The only female defendant Lau Pui-ying was found not guilty to one count of conspiring to provide or collect property for committing terrorist acts.