On 18 April, following the arrests of key opposition members in Hong Kong, ALDE Party President Hans van Baalen released a statement together with Liberal International (LI), the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD) and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF), calling on the Hong Kong administration to end these unrightful actions.

In their letter, the signatories – Hans van Baalen of ALDE, Hakima el Haite of LI, Bi-khim Hsiao of CALD and Karl-Heinz Paqué of FNF – stress the severity of the situation, underlining the impact of these arrests on fundamental rights:

“LI, FNF, CALD and ALDE Party strongly believe that these arrests, which have been undertaken in the midst of the global health pandemic, are nothing but cold-blooded political persecution and a direct attack on fundamental freedoms of speech and assembly, which the Hong Kong administration pledged and claimed to uphold.”

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