Hong Kong court convicts 3 Tiananmen Square vigil group members over failing to aid police probe
- Magistrate convicts trio from Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China
- Former group members Chow Hang-tung, Tsui Hon-kwong and Tang Ngok-kwan prosecuted for refusal of police request for details
Three core members of a now-disbanded alliance behind Hong Kong’s Tiananmen Square vigil have been found guilty of failing to assist a police investigation into the group’s suspected violation of the national security law.
The trio from the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China were convicted on Saturday at West Kowloon Court by a magistrate approved by the city’s leader to hear the case.
The group’s former vice-chairwoman Chow Hang-tung and ex-standing committee members Tsui Hon-kwong and Tang Ngok-kwan were prosecuted under the Beijing-imposed legislation’s implementation rules for rejection of a police request for details about the alliance’s members, donors, financial reports and activities.
The implementation rules of the national security law empower the police chief to request a range of information from a suspected foreign agent or one with links to Taiwan, but the trio argued they had no obligation to cooperate as the alliance was not a foreign agent.
But Principal Magistrate Peter Law Tak-chuen said he found “reasonable grounds to believe” the alliance was a foreign agent.
While he did not explain his reasons in his 45-page verdict, Law said he reached the conclusion after considering the alliance’s “close” interaction with local and overseas organisations that shared “common objectives”.
Law dismissed the defence’s complaint that the police request was a “broad-brush fishing exercise”, saying investigators had acted in an “abstemious and self-restrained” manner by only seeking information necessary for the probe.
The magistrate said no evidence showed the request was oppressive or made with any ulterior motive, adding it was “the mildest” coercive measure with the lightest legal consequences for non-compliance.
“National security is [of] cardinal importance to public interest and the whole nation,” he said. “For prevention and investigation [of national security offences], information is the core of the measure. Any obstruction would defeat the whole process.”
The trio will be sentenced next Saturday.
Last year’s trial offered a glimpse into what prosecutors said were indications the alliance had acted in the interests of foreign entities. A redacted police report submitted to the court said the alliance was connected to six unspecified groups.
Organiser of Tiananmen Square vigil in Hong Kong denies subversion charge
While their names were exempted from disclosure to protect the investigation’s confidentiality, a letter detailing the police request to the alliance revealed the force was looking into the alliance’s connections to the Hong Kong-based New School for Democracy, the now-folded China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group and four overseas organisations funded by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), backed by the United States.
The letter also asked Chow Hang-tung to explain the HK$3,000 (US$382) she received from the Asia Democracy Network in February 2021.
Acting Senior Superintendent Bruce Hung Ngan, who led the investigation, testified the alliance had received HK$20,000 in 2018 from an “international political organisation” pushing for democracy in mainland China.
Chow suggested the organisation was the Japanese branch of the Federation for a Democratic China, a group founded by mainland activists in exile after the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, but Hung refused to confirm that.
Chow also told the court she received the HK$3,000 for writing articles for the Asia Democracy Network and it was unrelated to the alliance’s affairs.
The redacted police report said three other groups which had ties to the alliance had each received millions of Hong Kong dollars from a body that promoted democracy and was aligned with US interests. The report did not say whether it was referring to the NED.
The report claimed the alliance had sought to overthrow the Chinese Communist Party by “furthering and/or reviving the 1989 [democratic] movement” and “build a so-called democratic China”, with a series of activities held in relation to the “Tiananmen incident” intended to provoke public hatred towards authorities.
The five-month trial was punctuated several times by disputes over the level of redaction of the police report. A debate also ensued after Chow described the crackdown as the “Tiananmen massacre”, an expression the magistrate ruled was “not neutral” and “improper”.
Defence lawyers said the report was heavily edited and argued the court lacked any basis to justify investigators’ suspicions that the alliance was a foreign agent.
Chow, a barrister, said the police request for information was too broad and vague which made it impossible for the alliance to comply with.
She warned that the move would have a devastating effect on civil society. She maintained her prosecution was politically driven and that national security was just an excuse for police to crack down on dissidents.
Chow, along with the alliance, its former chairman Lee Cheuk-yan and vice-chairman Albert Ho Chun-yan, were separately charged with inciting subversion of state power under the national security law.
