A Hong Kong court has begun sentencing more than 40 of the city’s best known pro-democracy figures on charges of subversion in the largest national security trial to date following Beijing’s sweeping crackdown on dissent in the once free-wheeling city.

Dozens of prominent Hong Kong pro-democracy activists are scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday in the biggest case under a national security law that critics say has crushed political activism in the semi-autonomous Chinese city.

A Hong Kong court sentenced former democracy advocate Benny Tai to 10 years in prison, the longest sentence ever meted out using a China-imposed security law, in a move likely to further deter dissent in the finance hub and attract condemnation from Western governments.