{"id":4238,"date":"2026-08-21T04:13:23","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T04:13:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=4238"},"modified":"2026-08-21T04:13:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T04:13:23","slug":"court-convicts-2-organizers-of-hong-kongs-tiananmen-vigils-in-national-security-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=4238","title":{"rendered":"Court convicts 2 organizers of Hong Kong\u2019s Tiananmen vigils in national security case"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

HONG KONG \u2014 Two former organizers of Hong Kong\u2019s decades-old vigil in remembrance of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown were convicted Friday in a national security case brought under a China-imposed law that has effectively crushed the Chinese territory\u2019s previously thriving pro-democracy movement.<\/p>\n

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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 had both pleaded not guilty and face a maximum prison term of 10 years. The alliance was also found guilty.<\/p>\n

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The verdict is among the latest involving Hong Kong\u2019s once-vibrant pro-democracy movement, which has largely been dismantled by Hong Kong and Chinese authorities.<\/p>\n

For three decades, the candlelight vigil organized by the alliance was the only large-scale public commemoration of the Tiananmen Square crackdown on Chinese territory, drawing tens of thousands of people annually. The event was banned in 2020 during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, weeks before Beijing imposed the security law on Hong Kong to quell the 2019 massive anti-government protests.<\/p>\n

Observers say their trial symbolizes the erosion of freedom of expression in the former British colony, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997.<\/p>\n

Lee, 69, and Chow, 41, are expected to be sentenced at a later date.<\/p>\n

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The judges have not read out the reasons behind the conviction, saying the full judgment would be available online later.<\/p>\n

Eric Lai, a senior fellow with the Georgetown Center for Asian Law, said the charge of inciting subversion was commonly used in mainland China to criminalize the acts of human rights lawyers, activists and intellectuals, including the late Nobel Peace laureate Liu Xiaobo.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can see to what extent the court in Hong Kong falls into the level of the party-led judiciary in the mainland through the criminal verdict,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s ruling Communist Party through unlawful means, pointing to \u201cending one-party rule,\u201d one of the group\u2019s core demands.<\/p>\n

But Lee told the court that the call was not about ending the party\u2019s leadership but about moving toward democracy, letting the people decide who leads them, and that the Communist Party should not enforce \u201cdictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chow, a barrister who defended herself, said \u201cending one-party rule\u201d means ending a state where power is unrestricted. She criticized how the standard for determining right and wrong was turned upside down in this case.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

In her Patreon post 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 \u201clike a dog.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cJustice 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\u2019t matter much,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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, a move that typically could result in a reduced sentence.<\/p>\n

Lee and Chow are expected to plead for lesser penalties at a separate hearing and could be sentenced alongside Ho.<\/p>\n

Dozens of people lined up outside the court under drizzling rain ahead of the hearing.<\/p>\n

Tang Ngok-kwan, a former alliance member, said police would not let him join the line if he insisted on bringing along \u201csensitive\u201d materials, including bookmarks printed with \u201cvindicate June 4.\u201d The date is the crackdown\u2019s anniversary. He decided not to go into the court.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Tang said a guilty verdict for the alliance would \u201cupend his understanding\u201d of the city\u2019s laws.<\/p>\n

Former vigil-goer Margaret Chan, who joined the line at 6 a.m., said the alliance\u2019s name carried the word \u201cpatriotic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone is patriotic. How to incite? Incite others to be patriotic?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of people, and possibly thousands, were killed in the 1989 crackdown as military tanks rolled into the center of Beijing. The crackdown was a pivotal moment in China\u2019s modern history, determining that the market reform that transformed the country into the world\u2019s second-largest economy would not be coupled with political liberalization.<\/p>\n

Since the Covid-19 restrictions were lifted, the former vigil site in Hong Kong has instead been occupied around the Tiananmen anniversary by a carnival organized by pro-Beijing groups.<\/p>\n

Beijing said the 2020 security law was necessary for the city\u2019s stability. Many leading activists were 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.<\/p>\n

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Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung, whose commemorations of China\u2019s 1989 crackdown drew tens of thousands of people each year, had pleaded not guilty to inciting subversion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4237,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia"],"yoast_head":"\nCourt convicts 2 organizers of Hong Kong\u2019s Tiananmen vigils in national security case - Trusted Moving Group<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=4238\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Court convicts 2 organizers of Hong Kong\u2019s Tiananmen vigils in national security case - 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