Hong Kong Watch condemns guilty verdict in the trial of Hong Kong Tiananmen vigil leaders

Hong Kong Watch strongly condemns today’s guilty verdict in the trial of Chow Hang-tung and Lee Cheuk-yan, former leaders of the now-defunct Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China. For three decades, the Alliance organised Hong Kong’s annual Tiananmen Square massacre candlelight vigil, drawing tens of thousands of people each year, until it was halted in 2020.

The Alliance, Chow, Lee, and a third former leader, Albert Ho Chun-yan, were arrested and charged in 2021 with “inciting subversion” under the Hong Kong National Security Law. Ho pleaded guilty before the trial began. Lee and Chow contested the charges, with Chow representing herself.

Immediately following their arrests, the Hong Kong National Security Police froze HK$2.2 million (US$280,500) worth of Alliance assets. The Alliance disbanded in the same month.

Chow and Lee have been held in detention for over 1,800 days since their arrests, more than five times the average pre-trial detention period for national security cases in Hong Kong. In 2023, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found Chow’s detention to be arbitrary and called for her release. Following today’s guilty verdict, they face a maximum sentence of ten years’ imprisonment.

Megan Khoo, Policy Director of Hong Kong Watch, said:

“Today’s verdict was a foregone conclusion from the start and has no bearing on the criminality of the defendants, but has revealed a fragile police state which fears the power of truth and the courage of those who choose to remember it.

Under a regime that fears subversion from flowers and candlelights, the only “crimes” the members of the Alliance have committed are for daring to seek the truth, pursue justice and democracy, and commemorate the sacrifice of those who lost their lives in its pursuit.”

支聯會鄒幸彤、李卓人「煽動顛覆國家政權」罪成  香港監察譴責政權懼怕真相

支聯會前正副主席李卓人和鄒幸彤今日被裁定「煽動顛覆國家政權」罪成，香港監察強烈譴責裁決。支聯會解散前連續三十年舉辦「六四」維園燭光晚會，每年吸引數萬人參加，直至2020年被迫停辦。

支聯會、鄒幸彤、李卓人和另一位前副主席何俊仁在2021年被捕，其後被控違反《國家安全法》下「煽動顛覆國家政權」罪。何俊仁在案件開審當日認罪，李卓人和鄒幸彤則否認控罪，鄒幸彤選擇自辯。

相關人士被捕後不久，香港警方國安處凍結支聯會220萬港元（280,500美元）資金。支聯會同月解散。

鄒幸彤和李卓人自被捕以來已被還押超過1,800日，是香港國安案件平均審前羈押時間的五倍以上。 2023年，聯合國任意拘留問題工作小組裁定局對鄒幸彤的拘留屬「任意性質」，並呼籲釋放她。兩人今日被裁定罪成，最高可被判十年監禁。

香港監察政策總監Megan Khoo表示：

「今日的裁決從一開始就已成定局，與被告行為是否構成犯罪毫無關係。這揭示一個脆弱的警察城市懼怕真相的力量，也懼怕選擇銘記真相者的勇氣。

在一個懼怕被鮮花與燭光顛覆的政權下，支聯會成員唯一犯下的『罪行』就是敢於尋求真相、追求公義與民主，以及紀念在追求過程中喪生者的犧牲。」

Photo: Stand News, Copyrighted free use, via Wikimedia Commons