Three former members of a Hong Kong group that organized annual vigils to mark China’s 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, were yesterday found guilty of not complying with a national security police request for information.
Chow Hang-tung (鄒幸彤), 38, a prominent Hong Kong democracy advocate and former vice-chairperson of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, was among those convicted by the magistrate court.
Two other former standing committee members of the alliance, Tang Ngok-kwan (鄧岳君) and Tsui Hon-kwong (徐漢光), were also found guilty.
Photo: Reuters
The now-disbanded alliance was the main organizer of Hong Kong’s June 4 candlelight vigil for people killed in the Tiananmen Square Massacre. Every year it drew tens of thousands of people.
Since Hong Kong’s massive pro-democracy protests in 2019, authorities have not allowed the vigil to take place on COVID-19-related grounds.
The alliance disbanded in September 2021 after authorities arrested several senior members of the group, including Chow.
The trial started late last year, more than a year after the defendants were arrested. The alliance was accused by prosecutor Ivan Cheung (張大有) of being a “foreign agent” for an unnamed group, after allegedly receiving HK$20,000 (US$2,548) from it.
Chow denied this in court, saying it was an independent civil society group run by Hong Kongers, and that the case amounted to “political persecution.”
“The existence of an independent organization like us that can check power is essential to the security of a nation, not a threat,” she told the court.
Magistrate Peter Law (羅德泉), who was hand-picked to hear national security cases by Hong Kong’s Beijing-backed leader, said in a written judgement that it was necessary for the police to “ascertain the background” of the group given its political activities and “nexus of interactions with local and non-local organizations and people.”
Sentencing is expected on Saturday with a maximum jail term of six months for this particular offense.
Chow has already served two prison terms for unlawful assembly linked to her involvement in organizing Tiananmen commemoration events, but still faces a separate, graver charge of subverting state power through the alliance.
Some key details of the case, including the overseas organizations and individuals alleged to have ties to the alliance, were kept confidential after the prosecutor applied for “Public Interest Immunity,” saying that the disclosures would the harm public interest.
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