The defunct Hong Kong stake association and its three leaders, Li Zhuoren, Zou Xingtong and Ho Junyan, were charged with "inciting others to subvert state power" under China's "Hong Kong National Security Law". The Hong Kong High Court ruled that the defendants were guilty.
The court did not impose an immediate sentence after pronouncing the verdict on Friday (August 21), and is scheduled to hear the plea again on the 28th. In the case, the stake association, former chairman Li Zhuoren and former vice-chairman Zou Xingtong denied the charges, while another former vice-chairman Ho Chun-yan pleaded guilty before the trial of the case. According to the Hong Kong National Security Law, the crime of "inciting subversion of state power" is punishable by up to ten years in prison.
The stake association, whose full name is the "Hong Kong Federation of Citizens Supporting the Patriotic and Democratic Movement," has been hosting commemorative events for the suppression of the Tiananmen student movement in Beijing in 1989 until it was banned by the Hong Kong SAR government in 2020 due to the COVID-19 epidemic.
In September 2021, three people were formally charged, and the stake also passed a dissolution resolution at the end of the same month, ending its 32-year history.
Friday's sentencing process lasted about five minutes. The presiding judge distributed the 206-page judgment to all relevant parties, but did not read it out point by point.
BBC Chinese reporters at the court saw that Li Zhuoren's expression was not special when he heard the verdict. The court adjourned briefly afterwards. When he was led away from the prisoners' column, he raised his hands toward the gallery to make a heart-shaped gesture and clasped his hands, and smiled in return. Zou Xingtong kept smiling throughout the whole process.
Ho, who had previously pleaded guilty, was not escorted to court.
Li Zhuoren's wife, union activist Deng Yan'e, told reporters outside the court after hearing the verdict that she felt angry, disappointed and helpless at the verdict.
"There has been no evidence to prove that they had any legal means, and they were still found guilty. I think it is very disappointing."
"At that time, Ah Yan (Lee Cheuk-yan) and his lawyer had explanations and defenses, but it was obvious that the judge did not accept it."
Deng Yan'e said that she will consider how to plead for mercy next, "or not do it (pleading for mercy)."
Zou Xingtong commissioned someone to post online before the verdict was announced: "I am curious and want to know how the verdict will be decided."
"Justice lies within the heart of the people. There is no need to look up to this kind of judgment from above. A single judgment is nothing."
According to Hong Kong media reports, three days before the ruling, at least 50 people were waiting in line outside the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts, which used the High Court court, and some of them were suspected of being "queueing party". When reporters asked them what case they were waiting to attend, they avoided talking or told reporters to "ask the police."
Some people also admitted to reporters that they could be "paid thousands of dollars (Hong Kong dollars)" by lining up like this. BBC Chinese has not been able to independently verify the claims, and its purpose is unknown.
Diplomatic representatives from many Western countries stationed in Hong Kong attended the court. Matthias Kaufmann, deputy director of the EU Office in Hong Kong and Macau, told BBC Chinese: "The EU and its member states have been following the trials brought against pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong for many years. This is to show that the EU is paying close attention to these cases."
Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council demanded that Beijing and the Hong Kong government release everyone and "stop suppressing dissent in the name of national security."
The Mainland Affairs Council issued a statement saying: "In recent years, political prosecutions by the CCP and the Hong Kong government have continued, and the re-conviction of relevant persons in this case once again proves that the CCP and the Hong Kong government continue to use the judiciary as a purge tool to arbitrarily erase Hong Kong's original diversity and freedom."
Amnesty International issued a statement immediately after the verdict, calling the outcome "distressing."
Sarah Brooks, deputy director of Amnesty International Asia Pacific, said: "Zou Xingtong and Li Zhuoren are prisoners of conscience who should never have been prosecuted in the first place. The authorities must release them immediately and unconditionally."
"The Hong Kong authorities should quash the convictions of the two men and stop persecuting those who have been working hard to preserve the memory of June 4th."
Former Hong Kong Legislative Council member and spokesman for Amnesty International Hong Kong Overseas Chapter, Cheung Chiu-hsiung, said the verdict "once again proves that the Hong Kong National Security Law is being used to punish those who peacefully commemorate June 4th."
Elaine Pearson, Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said: "Three June 4th candlelight vigil activists...exposed the Chinese government's fear of the memory of its own atrocities, which the authorities regard remembering history as a threat to national security."
The Stake Association case is the first case of inciting subversion of state power to be heard in the Hong Kong High Court. 69-year-old Lee Cheuk-yan and 41-year-old Zou Xingtong have been remanded in custody for nearly 1,800 days after prosecution. 74-year-old Ho Chun-yan was granted brief bail and has been remanded in custody for about 1,600 days, more than four years.
The case revolves around whether the "five-point program" adopted by the stake association for nearly 30 years, including "ending one-party dictatorship", involves acts that constitute "subversion of state power" and "illegal means" of inciting others to commit such acts.
The prosecution accused the four defendants of inciting others to organize, plan, implement or participate in the implementation of illegal means to subvert the Chinese regime in Hong Kong from July 1, 2020 to September 8, 2021.
The case was originally scheduled to start in May 2025, but because one of the judges, Li Yunteng, needed to hear Jimmy Lai's case, the trial was eventually postponed to January 22, 2026; the original scheduled trial period was 75 days, and the final trial lasted 24 days. Zou Xingtong, a barrister himself, attended the hearing and made submissions in person without legal representation.
The prosecution claimed that "end" and "overthrow" have the same meaning, so the claim is equivalent to overthrowing the country's fundamental system and central government organs. The natural and reasonable meaning is "ending the leadership of the Communist Party of China," which must involve illegal means aimed at subverting state power. "Overthrow" includes illegal means, but does not necessarily involve force.
The prosecution has repeatedly emphasized that the case is not a political trial and the court will not involve hearing any issues related to democracy, the June 4th incident, or criticism of China. Judge Li Yunteng also emphasized during the trial that "we are not trying the June 4 incident this time," but whether there was a violation of the Hong Kong National Security Law.
During his testimony, Li Zhuoren mentioned that from 1945 to 2012, several CCP leaders—Mao Zedong, Hu Yaobang, Zhao Ziyang, and Deng Xiaoping—had used the term "one-party dictatorship," and it was not the first time the stake association proposed it.
In her closing statement, Zou Xingtong cited the Gwangju incident in South Korea, saying that after South Korea experienced democratic transition, the trial of former President Chun Dou-hwan was similar in nature to the June 4th incident in China. In the end, the local court did not accept Chun Dou-hwan's defense. He pointed out that no matter how many times the constitution has been revised, the fundamental concepts of people, freedom, democracy, power protection, and the rule of law are still the fundamental concepts.
"I hope the court will make the right choice and uphold the dignity and bottom line of the law in an era when values are being reshaped." Zou Xingtong finally emphasized.
In addition to the case of inciting subversion of state power, Zou Xingtong and two former members of the standing committee of the stake association, Deng Yuejun and Xu Hanguang, were also involved in the "case of refusal of the stake association to hand over information." The three were charged with the crime of "failure to provide information in compliance with notification requirements" under the "Implementing Rules of Article 43 of the Hong Kong National Security Law". They were originally found guilty. After appealing to the Court of Final Appeal, in March 2025, the appeal was allowed and the conviction and sentence were revoked.
The High Court collegial panel composed of three "national security law-designated judges" said in its verdict that the prosecution did not provide sufficient evidence to prove that the defendant incited others to overthrow China's central government organs.
However, the court found that all three "intended and believed" that the instigators would act on their instigation and would use illegal means - that is, means that violated the Chinese Constitution and the Hong Kong National Security Law - with the purpose of subverting the Chinese regime led by the Communist Party of China.
The court held that although the stake association did not use or advocate violent means, after the promulgation of the Hong Kong National Security Law, the three still adhered to the action plan of "ending one-party dictatorship" and ignored that their words and deeds may exceed the scope of "legitimate freedom of expression" and fall within the "other illegal means" of the crime of "subversion of state power."
The Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China, John Lee, issued a written statement after the court ruling, saying that the Hong Kong government will "obey the law, enforce the law strictly, and prosecute those who violate the law."
Lee Ka-chao said: "The Stake Alliance has long deliberately sown seeds of hatred against the Communist Party of China and the central government in Hong Kong society. It uses different means to arouse public sentiments such as disgust and hatred towards the Communist Party of China and the central government, and incites the masses to subvert state power. The defendants' long-term behavior endangers national security, and their conspiracy is obvious and must be punished."
At the turn of the spring and summer of 1989, the "1989 Democracy Movement" broke out in China, which lasted for nearly two months. In the early morning of June 4, the Beijing authorities suppressed the movement with tanks and machine guns, ending the democratic movement.
The stake association was established in Hong Kong in May 1989. At that time, it organized a parade to support the Beijing student movement. Since then, it has held a candlelight vigil in Hong Kong's Victoria Park every year on the evening of June 4 to commemorate the victims.
After the "Hong Kong National Security Law" was passed, many political organizations and civil society groups in Hong Kong were disbanded one after another, and the stake association also approved the dissolution after holding a membership meeting in September 2021.
Lee Cheuk-yan and Ho Chun-yan, who were in prison at the time, publicly called for the voluntary dissolution of the stake association to be the "best solution." However, Zou Xingtong, who was also in prison, expressed his disapproval to the outside world through letters.
A spokesman for the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government said at the time: "Under today's legal environment and historical trends in Hong Kong, all anti-China and disruptive organizations in Hong Kong will no longer have room to cause chaos. Their collapse is the general trend and the aspiration of the people."
The "Five Major Programs" of the Stake Alliance are, in order, "release the pro-democracy activists, redress the 1989 pro-democracy movement, hold accountable those responsible for the massacre, end the one-party dictatorship, and build a democratic China."
Zou Xingtong was interviewed by BBC Chinese before his arrest in 2021 and on the eve of the 32nd anniversary of June 4th. At that time, the outside world was already paying attention to whether the "End One-Party Dictatorship" platform would violate the National Security Law and whether the stake association would be banned.
