Hong Kong's High Court convicted veteran activists Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung on Friday of inciting subversion under the national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020. The now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, which organised the city's annual Tiananmen Square vigils, was also found guilty, according to Reuters, the Associated Press and the Hong Kong government.
Lee, 69, and Chow, 41, had pleaded not guilty to the charge, which carries a maximum prison term of 10 years. A third former alliance leader, Albert Ho, pleaded guilty when the trial opened in January and was also convicted. The court adjourned proceedings until next Friday for mitigation arguments, the Hong Kong government said, leaving the sentences to be decided later.
The three national security judges concluded that the alliance's long-standing call to end one-party dictatorship sought to overthrow or undermine the Chinese Communist Party's constitutionally defined leadership. AP reported that the judges treated the organisation's campaign and public messaging as an effort to encourage others to subvert state power. The defendants argued that their political expression was protected speech rather than a plan to overthrow the state.
For three decades, the alliance held a candlelight gathering in Victoria Park to remember those killed when Chinese troops crushed the student-led demonstrations in Beijing on June 4, 1989. The event often attracted tens of thousands and was widely described as the only large public commemoration of the crackdown on Chinese soil. Authorities banned it from 2020, initially citing pandemic restrictions, and the alliance dissolved in 2021 amid a national security investigation.
Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee welcomed the verdict and said the defendants had attempted to foster hostility toward the central government and the Communist Party. His administration rejected criticism that the prosecution damaged rights and judicial independence. Critics of the security law, however, say the case shows how authorities have narrowed political expression and dismantled a once-prominent pro-democracy movement.
The ruling is among Hong Kong's most closely watched national security cases and extends the legal consequences surrounding public remembrance of Tiananmen. The defendants now await mitigation hearings and sentencing, while the verdict is likely to intensify international scrutiny of how Hong Kong balances its stated security obligations with freedoms promised under its separate legal system.
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