Hong Kong Issues Arrest Warrants for Inciting Blank Votes

(Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong’s anti-corruption agency has issued warrants for the arrest of five people for inciting others to cast blank votes at the upcoming Legislative Council election, following similar arrests earlier this week.

There is “sufficient evidence to institute prosecution against four men and one woman,” the Independent Commission Against Corruption said in a statement. The five people, who have all already left Hong Kong, are Sunny Cheung Kwan-yang, Lee Ka-wai, Lau Ka-man, Lee Hin-long and Law Kwun-chung, it said.

Lee Hin-long is a pro-democracy politician and former district councilor, who left Hong Kong earlier this year in fear of a national security prosecution, according to a local media report.

The territory had earlier arrested 10 people and prosecuted two for the same crime. Sunday’s vote for the Legislative Council will be the first after China imposed a sweeping national security law on Hong Kong, and will only feature candidates vetted by Beijing.

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