A Hong Kong court has found two activists, Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung, guilty of ‘incitement to subversion’ for organizing annual vigils to commemorate China’s Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989. The verdict has been widely criticized as a blow to freedom of expression in the city.
Lee, 69, and Chow, 41, were accused of ‘inciting other persons to organise, plan, commit or participate in acts by unlawful means with a view to subverting the state power.’ The maximum penalty for the offense is 10 years in jail, with sentencing expected at a later date. A third defendant, 74-year-old former lawmaker Albert Ho, pleaded guilty in January.
The trial, which began in January and spanned 24 days, has been seen as a test of the city’s freedoms. Chow, who represented herself, argued that the law itself was on trial. Lee and Chow were leaders of the now-defunct Hong Kong Alliance, which organized annual vigils in Victoria Park.
Hong Kong was once one of the few places on Chinese soil where public vigils were permitted to mourn those killed on June 4, 1989, when Chinese troops crushed protests calling for political reform in Tiananmen Square. However, public commemoration has been effectively banned since Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong in 2020.
The Alliance’s leaders were charged in 2021 and have been behind bars since. The case has drawn international attention, with rights group Amnesty International criticizing the use of ’vague, overly broad and arbitrary definitions of ‘subversion’.’
Dozens of police officers were present outside the courthouse, ushering reporters away as they attempted to film audience members queueing outside before the hearing began on Friday.
