Former democratic lawmaker sentenced to 12 years and 6 months in prison for 'Macau's first national security law'

For the first time in Macau, a court sentenced a former lawmaker to trial on charges of violating the National Security Law.

This ruling, which came a day after Joshua Wong, a symbolic figure of the Hong Kong democracy movement, was sentenced to an additional 10 years in prison, raises analysis that China's national security-centered governance is being strengthened in Macau as well as in Hong Kong.

According to Reuters and AFP on the 8th, the Macau Elementary Court sentenced former Legislative Council member Au Camsan (區錦新), a representative of Macau's democratic camp, to 12 years and 6 months in prison on the 6th on charges of violating the National Security Act.

The court found him guilty of charges such as subverting the national government, endangering national security through linking with foreign organizations, and violating the obligation to maintain secrecy. However, he was found not guilty on two out of three charges of subverting the national government.

Former lawmaker Au was arrested by the police in July last year on charges of violating the Macau National Security Act, which was revised in 2023.

In a statement at the time, the police did not specify who was to be arrested, but said, "There are strong indications that the suspect has colluded with foreign hostile forces for a long time," and that the man had provided a large amount of false and inflammatory information to overseas anti-China groups and encouraged hatred against Macau and the Chinese central government.

Police added that he is also suspected of interfering with the Macau Chief Executive election held in 2024 and causing foreign powers to take hostile measures against Macau.

The trial of former lawmaker Au was held behind closed doors on September 16th and 18th of this year.

A former elementary school teacher, he entered the democracy movement following the bloody suppression of the Tiananmen Square democracy protests in China in 1989.

After being elected as a city council member in 1993, he entered the Legislative Council, Korea's National Assembly, in 2001, and was successfully reappointed four times, serving as a member for 20 years until 2021.

Afterwards, he led a movement criticizing the Macau authorities' opaque governance, corruption, and deepening social inequality.

Former lawmaker Au's daughter Cherry said in a statement that she could never accept the court's ruling, adding, "My father loves Macau more than the people who imprisoned him could ever imagine."

The international human rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) condemned this ruling as “an unfair prosecution and harsh sentence.”

The Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs also said that it found this ruling unacceptable and had conveyed its serious concerns to the Chinese authorities.

On the other hand, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs dismissed criticism from the international community, saying it opposes any foreign power interfering in Macau's internal affairs and China's internal affairs.

Macau's National Security Law has defined collusion with foreign countries as a crime since its enactment in 2009, but the scope of application has been expanded and further strengthened through revision in 2023.

Macau, which was a Portuguese colony but was returned to China in December 1999, has not had a strong opposition to the Chinese central government, unlike Hong Kong, where large-scale anti-China protests took place, and has been regarded as a model example of 'one country, two systems' in China.

On the 5th, the day before former lawmaker Au's sentencing, Joshua Wong, a leading figure in the 'Umbrella Revolution' in Hong Kong, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of collusion with foreign countries under the National Security Act.

Wong was sentenced to prison on charges of illegal assembly and has been imprisoned since November 2020. He was scheduled to be released in January next year, but his incarceration period was extended with this ruling.