Two former Hong Kong Tiananmen vigil organisers convicted of subversion

Two former organisers of Hong Kong's decades-old vigil in remembrance of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown have been convicted of incitement to subversion.

The decision was handed down on Friday, local time, in a national security case brought under a China-imposed law that has effectively crushed the city's previously thriving pro-democracy movement.

Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung, former leaders of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, were charged in 2021 with inciting subversion under the national security law.

They both pleaded not guilty and now face a maximum prison term of 10 years. The alliance was also found guilty.

For three decades, the city's candlelight vigil, organised by the alliance, was the only large-scale public commemoration in China of the Tiananmen Square massacre and regularly drew tens of thousands of people annually to mourn the victims.

The event was banned in 2020 during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, weeks before Beijing imposed its security law on Hong Kong to quell the 2019 massive anti-government protests.

Observers said their trial symbolises the erosion of freedom of expression in the former British colony, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

They are expected to be sentenced at a later date.

Organisers accused of inciting the overthrow of China's ruling party

During the trial, prosecutors said the case was not political and focused on what they viewed as a call by the alliance to incite others to overthrow the leadership of China's ruling Communist Party through unlawful means, pointing to "ending one-party rule", one of the group's core demands.

But Lee told the court that the call was not about ending the party's leadership but about moving toward democracy, letting the people decide who leads them, and that the Communist Party should not enforce "dictatorship".

Chow, a barrister who defended herself, said "ending one-party rule" meant ending a state where power was unrestricted. She criticised how the standard for determining right and wrong was turned upside down in this case.

In a Patreon post on Thursday, she recalled being shackled in handcuffs, and in waist and ankle chains, for trips to court from prison, saying she was walked by correctional service officers "like a dog".

"Justice lives in the hearts of the people. There is no need to look up to this kind of top-down ruling, and one verdict doesn't matter much," she said.

The trial, initially scheduled for 75 days, moved faster than expected and concluded its closing statements on the 24th day.

When it began in January, Albert Ho, another defendant in the case, entered a guilty plea in a move that typically could result in a reduced sentence.

Lee and Chow are expected to plead for lesser penalties at a separate hearing and could be sentenced at a later date alongside Ho.

Supporters cast doubt on allegations

Dozens of people lined up outside the court under drizzling rain ahead of the hearing.

Tang Ngok-kwan, a former alliance member, said police would not let him join the line if he brought "sensitive" materials, including bookmarks printed with "vindicate June 4" — the date of the Tiananmen Square crackdown.

He decided not to go into court.

Amnesty International Hong Kong Overseas spokesperson Fernando Cheung said the verdict "underlines how Hong Kong's National Security Law is being used to punish people for peacefully remembering one of the darkest chapters in recent Chinese history".

"Today's decision marks another grim milestone in the government's deliberate campaign to erase that legacy and silence those who seek truth, justice and accountability."

Hundreds of people, and possibly thousands, were killed in the 1989 crackdown as military tanks rolled into the centre of Beijing.

It was a pivotal moment in China's modern history, determining that the market reforms that transformed the country into the world's second-largest economy would not be coupled with political liberalisation.

After COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, the former vigil site in Hong Kong was occupied instead each June 4 by a carnival and market stalls organised by pro-Beijing groups.

Beijing said the 2020 security law was necessary for the city's stability.

Many leading activists have been jailed under the same law, including pro-democracy former media tycoon Jimmy Lai.

Under the drastic political changes, dozens of civil society groups also dissolved, including the alliance.