HONG KONG (Reuters) - Sixteen convicted Falun Gong members urged a Hong Kong court on Monday to return US$3,750 to a mystery benefactor who paid their fines for them, so averting possible jail time.
"We won' t accept the fines that were paid," said Lu Jie, one of those convicted. "If we did, we would be admitting we were wrong. We can' t accept this money. We shouldn' t have been prosecuted at all."
The 16 -- four Swiss, one New Zealander and 11 Hong Kong residents, two of whom are also U.S. residents -- were convicted and fined in mid-August for public obstruction and other offences during a demonstration against Beijing, a high-profile case that sparked fears over freedom in the territory.
Political observers say the charges coincided with what appeared to be a hardening of resolve by the territory' s leader, Tung Chee-hwa, to get tough on China' s critics.
The spiritual movement is banned in mainland China but remains legal in Hong Kong, which was promised a high degree of autonomy when Beijing took it back from Britain in 1997.
The 16 have insisted they did no wrong and appealed against the convictions two days after the verdict.
While they insisted they would rather go to jail than pay the fines, a mystery benefactor person paid the money last week, touching off intense speculation over his identity.
Some Falun Gong members believe the person who made the payment is a sympathiser but others think it could be the Hong Kong government, which they say does not want the issue to escalate. The government has denied it paid the fines.
Nine of the 16 members presented a letter to a court official, urging the court to return the money.
"This fine should never have been paid," Lu said. "If they jail us, then the whole world will know," she added.
All 16 were found guilty of public obstruction. Nine were also convicted of wilfully obstructing police and three with assaulting police officers.
The group was charged after a protest on a wide pavement outside China' s main political office in Hong Kong on March 14 when it denounced the crackdown on Falun Gong on the mainland.
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/reuters/asia-122167.html
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