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U.K. Home Secretary Matt Hancock Addresses Parliament after U.K. Regulators Approve Oxford AstraZeneca Vaccine, Expands COVID-19 Restrictions; Interview with Sarah Gilbert, Lead Researcher, Oxford University Vaccine Development Project, on Trial Results; British Lawmakers Pass Post-Brexit Trade Deal; At Current Pace of Vaccination, America Needs 10 Years to Complete; Argentina Passes Bill Legalizing Abortion; Beijing Sentences 10 Hong Kong Activists to Jail. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired December 30, 2020 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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HALA GORANI, CNN HOST: You're watching CNN. The U.K. health secretary, Matt Hancock, is addressing Parliament right now on the day his country
approved a second COVID vaccine. Let's listen in.
MATT HANCOCK, BRITISH HEALTH SECRETARY: We received the genetic code for the new -- the virus. And a bit like the great British codebreakers before
them, they set to work at lightning speed. We took the decision to back them from the start, with funding and access to the NHS for clinical trials
and partnered with AstraZeneca, who have done a brilliant job to develop and manufacture a safe and effective vaccine at speed.
I'm sure the whole house will join me in congratulating everyone involved in this huge British success story, which is not just a triumph for science
and ingenuity, cracking a modern-day Enigma code, but it's, in truth, a victory for all because the Oxford vaccine is affordable.
It can be stored at normal fridge temperatures and it offers hope, not just for this country but for the whole world. Like so much else in the pandemic
response, it's been a big team effort.
And while this is a great British success, it's also the British way, that we're at our best when we collaborate with people from around the whole
world. And this is another example.
The vaccine's program has shown Britain as a life sciences superpower and the Brexit deal that this house has just passed with a very significant
majority has helped us, will help us, to strengthen this yet further.
I want to thank the National Institute for Health Research, the U.K. Vaccines Network, The Vaccines Task Force, AstraZeneca, of course, and
Oxford University and all the volunteers who stepped up for the -- stepped up for science and took part in the trial and all those who have been
involved in making this happen.
From the beginning, we've focused on the vaccine as a way out of this pandemic and now it is a reality. We need to vaccinate as quickly as supply
allows, following the necessary safety checks, of course. And the NHS stands ready to accelerate deployment at scale from Monday the 4th of
January.
We have a total of 100 million doses on order, which, combined with the Pfizer vaccine, is enough to vaccinate every adult in the U.K. with both
doses. And we will, of course, vaccinate according to the JCVI priority.
But today's news means that everyone who wants one can get a vaccine. We already have 530,000 doses available to the U.K. for Monday, with millions
due from AstraZeneca from -- by the beginning of February.
Mr. Speaker, the clinical advice is that the Oxford vaccine is best deployed as two doses up to 12 weeks apart. The great news is, people get
protection after the first dose. This means we can accelerate the speed at which we can vaccinate people for the first 12 weeks before we return to
deliver the second doses for that longer-term protection.
It brings forward the day on which we can lift the restrictions, that no one in this house wants to see any longer than are absolutely necessary.
But Mr. Speaker, we must act to suppress the virus now, not least because the new variant makes the time between now and then even more difficult.
And so whilst we have the good news of the vaccine today, we also have to take some difficult decisions.
The NHS is under very significant pressure. There are over 21,000 people in hospital with coronavirus right now. And we can see the impact that this is
having.
The threat to life from this virus is real and the pressures on the NHS are real, too. I want to put on the record my thanks to all those working right
now in the NHS and, in particular, those, including our chief medical officer, who have been working selflessly on the wards over Christmas. They
deserve our thanks and gratitude and support and we owe it to them to fulfill our responsibility to keep the virus under control.
Sharply rising cases and the hospitalizations that follow demonstrate the need to act where the virus is spreading. And you will have seen, Mr.
Speaker, that yesterday alone, 53,135 new cases were registered, the majority of which are believed to be the new variant.
Unfortunately, this new variant is now spreading across most of England and cases are doubling fast. It is, therefore, necessary to apply tier 4
measures to a wider area, including the remaining parts of the South East as well as large parts of The Midlands, the North West, the North East and
the South West. I have laid a comprehensive list in the library of the house and published on gov.uk.
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HANCOCK: Even in the -- in most areas not moving into tier 4, cases are rising, too, and it's therefore necessary to apply tier 3 measures more
broadly, too, including in Liverpool and North Yorkshire.
The rest of Yorkshire remains in tier 3. These changes will take effect from one minute past midnight tomorrow morning. The new variant means that
three-quarters of the population are now going to be in tier 4 and almost all of the country in tiers 3 and 4.
And I know that tiers 3 and 4 measures place a significant burden on people and especially on businesses affected. But I'm afraid it's absolutely
necessary because of the number of cases that we've seen.
But where we are still able to give places greater freedoms, we will continue to do so. Mr. Speaker, today is a day really of mixed emotions:
the joy that we have in the vaccine, giving us a route out of this pandemic; the pride that Britain is the first country in the world, once
again, to approve this British vaccine; the sorrow at the deaths and the suffering that the virus has caused and of determination, that we must all
stick at it during the difficult winter weeks ahead.
We end 2020 still with great challenges but also with great hope and confidence that, in 2021, we have a brighter future ahead. And I commend
this statement to the house.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We now come to the shadow secretary of state, Jonathan Ashworth.
JONATHAN ASHWORTH, LABOUR MP, SHADOW SECRETARY OF STATE FOR HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, as always, I find the secretary
of state's (INAUDIBLE) sight of this statement and I totally understand why he's had to come to the house this afternoon to move further areas into
tiers 3 --
GORANI: All right. That was the U.K. health secretary, Matt Hancock, on the day, as I mentioned, that the U.K. has approved its second COVID
vaccine, the AstraZeneca Oxford vaccine, which requires less refrigeration, by the way, less extreme refrigeration than the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine and
so, therefore, makes it easier to store.
Matt Hancock, the health secretary there in Parliament, saying that two doses are required for this vaccine up to 12 weeks apart but that that does
allow an acceleration of the vaccination program so that as many people as possible have some level of protection before that second jab three months
later.
Matt Hancock also announcing new restrictions in the United Kingdom, expanding the tier 4 lockdown. Tier 4 in this country simply means that
nonessential businesses will be closed and there's more restriction on movement.
The question is going to be, of course, what do you do with schools, once they are due to reopen in a few weeks?
But these are all questions that are facing countries around the world, as hospitals in Europe, in the United States, in other parts of the world, are
overwhelmed, absolutely overwhelmed with COVID patients.
I'm Hala Gorani. Thanks very much for joining us here as we continue to cover breaking news from around the world.
The U.K. now, as I just mentioned, has another coronavirus vaccine available for distribution. But the emergency authorization of the Oxford
AstraZeneca vaccine this morning comes as this country and other parts of the world are experiencing some of the darkest days of the pandemic.
This is the reality here in Britain right now: new daily cases at their highest ever, hospitalizations at their highest ever, emergency rooms in
some areas overflowing and overwhelmed.
These are pictures from London. You can see the ambulances, some of them having to stand in line for hours. In one nearby town they are reportedly
waiting up to six hours to drop off patients. Imagine for just a moment being one of those patients or being -- or having a loved one or a family
member in one of those ambulances.
Now all that being said and against this grim backdrop, there is also increased hope with yet a second vaccine now ready. The AstraZeneca CEO
says he expects the vaccine to reach several million people in the first months of 2021.
And as we've been discussing, there is that very important key difference from the Pfizer BioNTech and Moderna vaccines. It can be stored at standard
refrigerator temperatures. No need for those supercold freezers, no need to thaw it out for a few days.
Like the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine, its two doses can be administered up to 12 weeks apart, which means that the focus initially will be getting that
first jab into the arms of as many people as possible as quickly as possible.
Sarah Gilbert is lead researcher on the vaccine team at Oxford and joins me now live.
Thank you very much for joining us and congratulations, by the way, on this vaccine, on the approval and also congratulations on the fact that,
hopefully in the next few days, we will start seeing hundreds of thousands of people and then eventually millions vaccinated in that first wave.
Talk to us about what we can expect starting January 4th.
SARAH GILBERT, LEAD RESEARCHER, OXFORD UNIVERSITY VACCINE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT: Well, thank you. As you say, I'm the lead researcher in the
Vaccine Development Project so it was my role to start this project at the very beginning of January, almost a year ago.
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GILBERT: I'm not involved in the rollout of the vaccine, I'm, like the rest of the country, waiting for that to happen with great interest. But I
do know that this vaccine is going to be much easier to deploy than the vaccine that's been in use in the U.K. so far, because this vaccine doesn't
require the ultralow storage temperatures.
It's much easier to store and distribute. It's much easier to arrange vaccinations in smaller quantities when that's an appropriate thing to do.
And it's going to be available in very large amounts at a low price.
And it's a vaccine that we want to be made available across the world. And the first stage of that is getting emergency use licensure in the first
country, which we now have today.
GORANI: And how will it work?
Because two jabs are necessary ultimately. But after the first jab you have some level of protection.
Can you describe what that is?
GILBERT: So after the first dose of the vaccine, in the clinical trials, from three weeks after that first dose, nobody in the trials who received
the vaccine was admitted to hospital with COVID or had severe disease. And that's a really important result.
And we know that we can then wait up to 12 weeks, three months, to give the second dose of the vaccine. The second dose does improve on the immune
response to the vaccine somewhat over the first dose. But it's also really important for the durability of that immune response.
So for the long term, we do want people to have two doses. But we know we can get very good protection from the first dose and that there is no
disadvantage to waiting three months to give the second dose. We really should see drops in numbers of people admitted to hospital, once we start
to get them vaccinated.
GORANI: So it's possible to become infected with COVID-19 after the first dose but what you've observed in trials is that no one who was administered
the first dose ended up in hospital or severely ill, am I understanding that correctly?
GILBERT: That's correct. No hospitalizations or severe illness after just one dose of the vaccine and then waiting three weeks for the vaccine to
take effect. We also, in the trials, looked at the level of efficacy against mild disease. That was the main readout in the trials.
And that is slightly different, depending on whether you have one dose or two dose and the interval between the doses. In all cases it's a highly
effective vaccine and the important decision that's been made today is to give the first dose to as many people as possible before going back to give
the second dose because, across the population, that will give the best protection both for the individuals and for the protection of the health
care system so that we can start to see the hospitals returning to something like normal.
GORANI: Right, because right now so many hospitals are overwhelmed.
Will it be effective against the new variant of the COVID virus that we've observed in the U.K. and in other countries around the world?
GILBERT: There's nothing to say that it won't be effective against the new variants and that -- there is one that's been first identified in the U.K.,
although now found in many other countries, and a slightly different one in South Africa, although actually the mutations do have something in common
across both of those new strains.
What seems to be the difference with these new strains is that, in people who are infected, they have a very large amount of virus in their system.
And that means it's easier for it to be transmitted to other people. So we see much more transmissibility.
But not really any change in the immune susceptibility of the virus to an immune response. So we think the vaccine is still going to work just as
well against the new variant. And we will continue to test that. But we need to be wary about the potential for more mutants to arise in the
future. And we will be keeping an eye on that.
GORANI: All right. Thank you very much for joining us, Sarah Gilbert, the lead researcher at the Oxford vaccine team. And, again, the world is
grateful for all the work you and your team at Oxford and your partners at AstraZeneca have done. Thank you so much for joining us.
As I mentioned at the start of the newscast, the vaccine authorization comes just hours after the U.K. recorded its highest number of new daily
cases since the start of the pandemic. So, yes, we're celebrating the rollout, the upcoming rollout of this vaccine.
But right now the situation is dire, the numbers being driven largely by that new COVID variant that's thought to be more contagious.
Hospitalizations also reaching a new high this week. You can see it on the chart. And that's leading to new restrictions announced just minutes ago by
the U.K. health secretary.
Phil Black has been following developments all day long for us here in London and joins me now live.
So more restrictions -- and we've been seeing pictures, footage of hospitals around this country, around the world, absolutely overwhelmed
with COVID patients -- Phil.
PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Hala, that's right; it is a dark, desperate time for this country. And as welcome as the news about the
vaccine is.
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It does nothing in the immediate sense to alleviate the stress and pressure that this country's health system is increasingly under. As you've touched
on new records for daily known cases, more than 53,000 yesterday, the highest-ever number of COVID patients in the country's hospitals, more than
21,000.
And all of this is yet to factor in the inevitable consequences of the socialization -- the socializing that took place over Christmas. So there's
very much this sense that things are going to get worse.
And every day we are hearing these anecdotal accounts, seeing these disturbing pictures in the country's hospitals, about the -- that really
demonstrate the pressure and the difficulty that these countries' exhausted health staff are continually facing.
So that is why we have now, just a short time ago, heard from the health secretary, Matt Hancock, saying that new parts of England are going to be
moved up into the highest level of restriction. So for tier 4 and lower levels are moving up to tier 3 as well. That basically covers most of
England now.
It means that three-quarters of England's population are experiencing something pretty close to lockdown in practice, at least; essentially
they're being told to stay home.
Everything nonessential has to close and there is concern that that in itself will not be enough because these are the tools that we used to
essentially contain and control the old variant of the virus.
Increasingly there are concerns from scientists that these sorts of measures are not enough to significantly slow down the spread that is
taking place here. And so that is why there are constant daily calls now for the government to consider more, perhaps revoke its plan to start
opening schools from next week, perhaps to consider yet another national lockdown.
But the reality is that, at the moment, things are increasingly desperate. The health system is under an enormous degree of pressure and this is
expected to extend well into January at least -- Hala.
GORANI: Phil Black, thanks very much, live in London.
When you hear ICU doctors, who have seen horrible injuries, the worst types of illnesses, essentially sound overwhelmed in videos that they post on
social media, it kind of -- it kind of drives home the severity of the situation. Thanks very much.
By the way, the first person, the first person to receive the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine outside of human trials has officially had her second
dose.
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GORANI (voice-over): Here is Margaret Keenan getting the first round of the Pfizer vaccine at the beginning of December. We all remember that
moment. That was less than a week after the U.K. originally approved the vaccine. And hospital officials say Margaret has been doing well at home.
According to the approved timeline, the vaccine should start having its desired effectiveness about one week after the second dose.
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GORANI: Well, as the U.K. applauds what it calls its way out of the pandemic, we're staying on Britain for just a moment here before we move
on. British lawmakers have just passed that deal that will build the country's future relationship with the European Union.
The post-Brexit trade deal, struck with the E.U. on Christmas Eve, was signed and sealed a short time ago in Brussels. The documents, which were
then sent to London for debate, have just passed in the House of Commons overwhelmingly, 521-73. It now heads to the U.K. House of Lords.
Let's get to Salma Abdelaziz in London with more on this.
We are expecting the prime minister to sign this deal this hour, Salma.
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN PRODUCER: That's right, Hala, at 3:00 pm local time the prime minister signs the deal and, in some ways, the war over Brexit is
over. The peace deal is sort of signed here, if you will.
A historical moment that the prime minister says will give this country back its sovereignty, back control of its laws, its territories, its
people, its future destiny. That is his argument.
He says this is a start of a friendship, a new relationship with the E.U., where it will be better for both sides because he said, ultimately, Britain
was a reluctant member of this club and it will do better outside this club, as a best friend and ally, than it would ever have done inside as a
reluctant member.
We watched this debate play out for five hours in the Parliament. We heard from the opposition Labour leader who said this deal is not one he likes.
It's thin. He feels it doesn't have enough protections for businesses and families.
But ultimately his argument, the opposition Labour Party's argument, was that this deal had to be voted through because the only other option was
the no-deal option and that that could be devastating for this country.
So a lot of signaling here for Prime Minister Boris Johnson. And it's important to note that this is a massive mission accomplished for the prime
minister.
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This is a big victory. This was done in a year during a pandemic when a lot of people said that it could not be done, that it would not be done after
4.5 years of a bitter, divisive, politically polarizing debate that we have watched play out here. And now he can say I made it happen. I made this
deal.
And I didn't walk away from the negotiations because both sides at times seemed willing to walk away, to take no deal as the option. So the start
now of a new relationship. But the real litmus test of this will be how it impacts the economy, how it impacts ordinary Brits and whether or not,
ultimately, both sides get to profit from this, Hala.
GORANI: All right. Yes, ultimately. And also services not included in this agreement. That's 80 percent of the U.K. economy. We still don't know how
that's going to pan out. Thanks very much, Salma Abdelaziz, as she is in London.
We've been talking about unwanted COVID-19 records being set here in Britain. It's also happening in the United States. President-Elect Joe
Biden pushes to have a million Americans vaccinated per day. We will talk about how he plans to do this because that has not at all been the track
record in the country so far. We will be right back.
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GORANI: The U.S. has recorded its deadliest COVID-19 day so far in the pandemic. On Tuesday the virus killed more than 3,700 Americans in a single
day. That brings the country's total coronavirus deaths to over 338,000 people.
On Tuesday, it also reported a record number of COVID hospitalizations. In Los Angeles, you see images coming to us from L.A. here, they are up almost
1,000 percent from just two months ago in terms of people admitted to hospital.
Experts warn that these numbers could be even worse in January, especially considering that some people did not heed the advice of authorities and did
go home and travel for Christmas.
And still despite urgent warnings from health officials not to travel, as I mentioned, the numbers are that a million people passed through U.S.
airports each day for the past four days.
The vaccine is being seen as the country's only saving grace. But President-Elect Joe Biden is calling out the current president Trump for
falling short on the pace of vaccinations.
With only three weeks left to go until he takes office, Biden says he's still battling to obtain critical national security intelligence. Our
senior Washington correspondent, Joe Johns, is in Wilmington, Delaware, home of Joe Biden's transition headquarters, with more on this story --
Joe.
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Hala, we're getting a sobering assessment, if you will, from Joe Biden about the vaccine effort
here in the United States so far.
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A very sobering assessment by saying the worst is yet to come, very possibly, and also saying that the United States is lagging behind its own
goals in getting shots in arms around the country. Going forward, Biden says the country is going to have to do better once he takes office.
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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: The next few weeks and months are going to be very tough, a very tough period for our nation,
maybe the toughest during this entire pandemic. I know it's hard to hear but it's the truth.
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JOHNS (voice-over): President-elect Joe Biden issuing a dire warning.
BIDEN: The Trump administration's plan to distribute vaccines is falling behind, far behind.
JOHNS (voice-over): Biden saying that the current effort to vaccinate Americans against the coronavirus will take years, not months, a far cry
from the Trump administration's estimate that 20 million Americans would be vaccinated by year's end.
ALEX AZAR, U.S. HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: We expect to have approximately 40 million doses by the end of this year, so that would allow
us to vaccinate 20 million people in December.
JOHNS (voice-over): The reality: only 11.4 million vaccine doses have been distributed and a little over 2 million people have received their
first shot, with two days left to go this year.
President Trump placing blame on the states, tweeting, "It is up to the states to distribute the vaccines once brought to the designated areas by
the federal government."
The White House issuing a statement late Tuesday night, reinforcing the president's argument, writing, "Nearly 20 million first doses have been
allocated to states for immediate delivery and administration at their direction. And this process is progressing rapidly."
The president-elect laying out his ambitious plan, ramp up vaccinations to a million shots a day in his first 100 days in office.
BIDEN: If Congress provides the funding, we would be able to meet this incredible goal. It would take ramping up five to six times the current
pace to 1 million shots a day. This is going to be the greatest operational challenge we've ever faced as a nation. But we're going to get it done.
JOHNS (voice-over): In addition to appealing to Congress for more funding, Biden plans to use the Defense Production Act to ramp up production of
supplies needed to vaccinate Americans as well as personal protective equipment.
BIDEN: I'm going to move heaven and Earth to get us going in the right direction.
JOHNS (voice-over): Joe Biden warning, the country might not see improvement until well into March and, in the meantime, encouraging all
Americans to wear a mask.
BIDEN: We need to steel our spines for what's ahead. We need to follow even more closely the recommendations to slow the spread of the virus.
COVID is a killer in red states and blue states alike. So I encourage you all to wear a mask.
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JOHNS: It's been a busy week for Joe Biden but there's nothing on his public schedule today. He is expected to head down to his Delaware beach
house, where he will spend the holiday.
He and the Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris are expected to head out over the weekend to Georgia, where they're going to campaign for who determines
-- who actually controls the Senate in that special election there. Back to you.
GORANI: All right. Joe Johns in Wilmington, Delaware. Thanks very much.
On the other side of the world, Australia's immigration minister says foreigners who break COVID-19 rules could be deported. Video has been going
around social media of mass Christmas gatherings on places like Bronte Beach in Sydney.
Alex Hawk says if anyone is caught doing this -- doing the wrong thing, their visa status could be brought before the federal government. He says
he was shocked by what he saw, which has been blamed on backpackers in parts of the press.
It's worth noting Australia has banned foreign nationals from entering the country since March. And there you have it. So those that are still there,
don't break the rules.
A landmark vote in Argentina, huge crowds gathered as lawmakers voted on a historic abortion bill. We will show you the moment the results were
announced, coming up next.
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GORANI: All right. A historic vote in Argentina; women there should soon have legal access to abortions. There were thunderous cheers when the
senate approved a measure allowing women to terminate their pregnancy up to 14 weeks in. Most abortions are now illegal in Argentina and carry stiff
jail sentences.
President Alberto Fernandez was a strong supporter, saying that criminalizing the procedure punished women, who are vulnerable and poor. We
talked to Diego Laje this time yesterday. He predicted a long and emotional night in Argentina's senate and it was. He's back with us from Buenos Aires
with more reaction.
So what was the final result of the vote in the senate, Diego?
DIEGO LAJE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hala, the final result was 38 senators saying yes, approving, supporting the bill, against 29 who rejected it.
Therefore, the bill passed and changed the story from 2018, when a similar bill could not make it through the senate.
Argentina has, with this decision, really changed history. It felt like a historical moment in this country and in the region. It's expected -- this
decision is expected to reverberate across the region.
Why?
Because Argentina is the first major Latin American country to fully legalize abortion and to, of course, make it part of its free social
medical care.
So now the government, as soon as the president signs this bill into law, will be forced, will have to supply all the means necessary whenever a
woman, for whichever reason, no questions asked, of course -- there is some counseling expected -- but if that woman chooses to abort, the state will
have to supply all the means necessary before week 14.
That is the period that the law allows abortion to take place -- Hala.
GORANI: So, Diego, why was this approved now but rejected a few years ago?
What changed in Argentina?
LAJE: Many things changed in Argentina in the meantime. In 2018, the government, the executive, the administration was center of right. Now the
administration is center of left. It was a campaign promise by President Alberto Fernandez and the cabinet was lined up behind this bill.
Additionally the senate -- the composition of the senate changed. And many prochoice senators gained seats. Those were the two biggest changes between
2018 and 2020.
There's one more detail to keep in mind: Argentina is a different country now in many respects. Also the green movement, the green tide, green being
the color that identifies the prochoice camp, also got more articulated.
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Reached out, became a much more efficient grassroots movement and managed to mobilize and keep mobilized a lot of people behind this initiative, when
it was, again, relaunched by the new administration earlier this year.
And this is another important factor to keep in mind because, beyond decisions in Congress and politicians' proposals, the important point to
keep in mind was that the greens were consistently and more effective when mobilizing and when keeping this issue at the top of the agenda throughout
this whole process -- Hala.
GORANI: Diego Laje, thanks very much for that report, live in Buenos Aires.
To Russia now, Vladimir Putin is not letting up on opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Russian authorities are now launching a new criminal investigation
against Navalny and his anti-corruption foundation.
Now they claim the organization has committed, quote, "fraud" on a large scale. Navalny remains in Germany after recovering from being poisoned in
August with the nerve agent, Novichok. The Kremlin has denied any involvement in that attack.
Fred Pleitgen knows the intricacies of the Russian campaign against Navalny and he joins us from Moscow with the latest maneuver by the Kremlin --
Fred.
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, there, Hala. This is quite a serious investigation against Alexei Navalny, others
also in that anti-corruption foundation. If they get convicted, it could mean up to 10 years in prison. That would be the maximum sentence.
Essentially what the authorities are saying that this anti-corruption foundation allegedly got millions of dollars in donations and that large
parts of that money were used for private purposes, for buying private property and also private trips as well.
So essentially they're saying that that money was stolen. Now of course, Alexei Navalny, who is still recovering from that Novichok poisoning in
Germany, is having none of it. He has basically gone into a back-and-forth here with Vladimir Putin.
On social media he said Vladimir Putin seems to be becoming hysterical because of all of these investigations that are being launched against
Alexei Navalny. Vladimir Putin's spokesman shot back, saying, no, Vladimir Putin is not being hysterical. He said that Vladimir Putin, all this does
not evoke any emotions in the Russian president.
The only thing that evokes emotions was Putin's duty as president of the Russian Federation. But we are seeing not necessarily a pattern but several
instances where the Russian authorities really seem to be clamping down on Alexei Navalny.
You have this case and yesterday Alexei Navalny was ordered to appear at a hearing of the Russian penal service, which he could not physically get to
because he is still in Germany. There are no direct flights that would have gotten him there on time.
And essentially he could get arrested anytime if and when he comes back to the Russian Federation. We have talked about this in the past before.
Alexei Navalny has many times said, despite that Novichok poisoning, despite the investigation of CNN and Bellingcat showing that the FSB was
behind or seems to be behind that poisoning of Alexei Navalny, he still wanted to come back. It will be interesting to see whether or not he now
changes his mind -- Hala.
GORANI: All right. Fred Pleitgen in Moscow, thanks very much.
In Hong Kong, a group of activists who tried to flee the city by speedboat have been sentenced in China. Most of them had been facing charges related
to last year's anti-government protests. That's the big fear for anti- government activists in Hong Kong, is that they will be prosecuted in Mainland China. Selina Wang has more.
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SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The fate of the Hong Kong 12 has drawn international attention, amid further restrictions on political freedoms in
Hong Kong. In August, these 12 Hong Kong activists were arrested by Chinese Coast Guard as they were attempting to flee Hong Kong for Taiwan via a
speedboat.
Most of the 12, who are aged 17 to 33 years old, were on bail or facing charges related to last year's protests. Two of them were convicted of
illegal border crossings and were sentenced to two and three years in prison.
Another eight were convicted for taking part in the illegal border crossing. They received lesser sentences of seven months. The mainland
police dropped charges on the two minors that were also on the boat.
The 12 were detained for more than 100 days leading up to the trial this week in Shenzhen. Family members, journalists and diplomats were barred
from attending the trial.
The families said the unfair court proceedings are an example of draconian political persecution. In the mainland, where the legal system is opaque,
it is not unusual for detainees to go for long periods of time, held without access to relatives or lawyers of their choosing.
[10:40:00]
After the sentencing one of the parents of the defendants said, quote, "I think whether the court sentenced them one day or seven months, every day
spent there is wrong."
Police and prosecutors in Shenzhen have previously denied accusations of any mistreatment and claimed that the 12 had access to legal advice.
Numerous political activists have already fled Hong Kong, fearing arrest related to their involvement in the Hong Kong protests.
WANG: The U.S. has called for the 12 to be released; the U.S. State Department earlier said that, quote, "Their so-called crime was to flee
tyranny. Communist China will stop at nothing to prevent its people from seeking freedom elsewhere."
Beijing has painted the Hong Kong 12 as separatists while Hong Kong authorities have emphasized that these 12 are wanted people in Hong Kong
for serious offenses -- Selina Wang, CNN, Tokyo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: The Premier League is suffering the consequences of the U.K.'s rapidly worsening outbreak and there are calls for a two-week break. More
from "WORLD SPORT" next.
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GORANI: Well, as Britain faces an increasingly worse coronavirus outbreak, so has the Premier League. The league reported its highest number of cases
so far, a record 18 positive cases this week. And this is all prompting calls for a two-week circuit breaker.
(WORLD SPORTS)
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