Hong Kong Tiananmen vigil organiser, former leaders guilty of inciting subversion

The now-disbanded alliance behind Hong Kong’s annual Tiananmen Square vigil and two of its former leaders have been found guilty of inciting subversion under the national security law by advocating an end to “one-party dictatorship” in mainland China. In a 216-page judgment delivered at West Kowloon Court on Friday, three High Court judges ruled that any attempt to overthrow or undermine the Communist Party of China’s leadership could constitute a subversion offence because the country’s constitution did not permit Western-style democracy. They found the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, its former chairman Lee Cheuk-yan and former vice-chairwoman Chow Hang-tung had incited public hatred towards the party by likening Beijing’s crackdown on protesters in 1989 to local authorities’ suppression of the 2019 anti-government demonstrations. While stressing it was not unlawful for the alliance to organise vigils to mark the crackdown, the panel said the defendants had used the annual event to attract new supporters and instigate them to take action to oust the ruling party. “[The defendants] did not genuinely and honestly believe that their words and deeds were not in breach of the national security law. They just refused to pull back from the brink and were bent on embracing the alliance’s resistance line to the very end.” Justices Alex Lee Wan-tang, Johnny Chan Jong-herng and Anna Lai Yuen-kee will hear oral mitigation arguments on August 28 before delivering the sentences. Beijing’s national security office in Hong Kong said the defendants should be harshly punished for severely undermining the city’s fundamental interests and endangering the state’s constitutional order. A government spokesman praised the verdict as a reasoned judgment, while accusing “external forces” of making “blatant and persistent” attempts to vilify local authorities through political manoeuvres and misleading statements. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said that anyone who tried to “shift the goalposts” or cover up their crimes with “clever words and flattery” would not escape justice. Security minister Chris Tang Ping-keung said the verdict highlighted the importance of the Chinese constitution in the city’s constitutional order and offered clearer guidelines for law enforcement. Police Chief Superintendent Steve Li Kwai-wah, of the force’s national security department, declined to say whether future discussions of the 1989 crackdown would constitute an offence. He said event organisers had to comply with relevant laws. Former lawmaker Lee and Chow, a barrister, have been remanded in custody for nearly five years. A fourth defendant, former vice-chairman Albert Ho Chun-yan, has also been detained for more than four years and is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to the offence in January. Lee’s wife, Elizabeth Tang Yin-ngor, said she was “very angry” over the ruling because she felt the judges did not give sufficient consideration to the defence’s arguments and evidence. Chow’s mother said she hoped that “flowers of all colours can blossom”. The court heard that putting an end to “one-party dictatorship” was among the alliance’s five operational objectives, which also included vindicating the 1989 protest movement and building a democratic China. The trial centred on Article 1 of the Chinese constitution, which was amended in 2018 to describe the party’s leadership as the “defining feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics”. The judges noted that the article effectively required the country to be run solely by the party as a socialist state. The role of other “democratic” parties, they said, was restricted to taking part in the “patriotic united front” under the party’s leadership. The defence contended that all the alliance’s objectives were a legitimate exercise of fundamental human rights. Lee testified that the one-party system was incompatible with the constitution’s preamble, which provides for “multiparty cooperation and political consultation” under the party’s leadership. Chow argued that pursuing democratic change in society should not be considered illegal in the first place. The judges rejected their assertions, saying the defendants did not simply seek more diverse political participation on the mainland but hoped to overthrow and undermine the party. They said Lee, Ho and Chow had all along been hostile towards the regime and refused to make any compromise. The defendants never saw any opportunity for a peaceful dialogue with central authorities or any chance that Beijing would agree to amend the constitution again, the judges added. Set up after the 1989 crackdown, the alliance organised annual candlelight vigils in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park to mark the event and call for accountability and democratic reforms across the border. The event had been the only large-scale public gathering on Chinese soil to remember the 1989 crackdown. Police prohibited the vigil for the first time in 2020 on public health grounds related to the Covid-19 pandemic. The 2021 event was banned for similar reasons before the alliance disbanded in September that year. Inciting subversion in Hong Kong carries a maximum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment under the national security law. Any company or organisation that commits an offence under the law can be handed a fine of an indefinite sum. In a statement, UK Foreign Office Indo-Pacific minister Rosie Winterton said the verdict was “further demonstration that acts of remembrance in Hong Kong are now treated by the authorities as threats to national security”. An EU spokesperson said: “The conviction … confirms the continuing deterioration of the freedoms of expression and assembly and a further shrinking of the space for independent civil society in Hong Kong.” The foreign ministries of France and Germany also issued a joint statement saying the countries “deeply regret” the guilty verdict and called for the immediate release of Chow, who was awarded the Franco-German Prize for Human Rights and the Rule of Law in 2023. The Australian government said it was “deeply concerned” by the verdict, while calling on Beijing to “cease suppression of freedoms of expression, assembly, media and civil society” and to repeal the national security law. US Assistant Secretary of State Riley Barnes called for the defendants’ immediate release, arguing that the vigils sought only to remember the past and honour the lives lost in the Tiananmen crackdown. Additional reporting by Leopold Chen and Connor Mycroft

Hong Kong Tiananmen vigil organiser, former leaders guilty of inciting subversion

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Court rules alliance’s push to end ‘one-party dictatorship’ violated national security law, as city leader John Lee says it showed hatred of Beijing

Court rules alliance’s push to end ‘one-party dictatorship’ violated national security law, as city leader John Lee says it showed hatred of Beijing