By Jessie Pang
HONG KONG (Reuters) -Hong Kong’s High Court rejected an application by pro-democracy activist Chow Hang-tung on Monday to terminate a subversion trial involving herself and a group that once organised commemorations of the Tiananmen crackdown.
Chow, 40, the former vice-chair of the now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, and two other former leaders, Lee Cheuk-yan and Albert Ho, face up to 10 years’ imprisonment for “inciting subversion of state power”, under a China-imposed National Security Law.
She and others were accused of inciting others “to organise, plan, commit, or participate in acts by unlawful means with a view to subverting state power” between July 1, 2020, and September 8, 2021.
ONE-PARTY RULE
Chow, who represented herself, said she could not understand what those unlawful means were.
Prosecutor Ned Lai said “unlawful means” referred to any means aimed at ending the Chinese Communist Party’s leadership that would violate China’s constitution – particularly the Preamble and Article One, which enshrine the socialist system and the fundamental system of China.
Chow argued that ending the Chinese Communist Party’s leadership could be a goal or a result, but not a means. She also argued that the prosecution’s accusations were vague and insubstantial, amounting to a “catch-all” crime that made a fair trial difficult.
One of the three judges, Alex Lee, said the prosecution’s allegations were “just broadly defined”.
“Basically, any attempt to end one-party rule is considered unconstitutional. That’s their position,” Lee said.
The three judges rejected Chow’s application and will give their reasons one day before the trial starts on January 22.
TIANANMEN COMMEMORATIONS BLOCKED SINCE 2020
The Alliance had for decades led annual commemorations in Hong Kong of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing. The ruling Communist Party has never released a figure for the number of deaths during the crackdown, but rights groups and witnesses say the figure could run into the thousands.
Since 2020, and with the enactment of the National Security Law, Hong Kong authorities have effectively blocked all public commemorations of the anniversary.
Chow and Lee Cheuk-yan have indicated they will plead not guilty to the charge, while Ho has indicated he will change his plea to guilty. All three remain in custody.
Fernando Cheung, a spokesperson for Amnesty International Hong Kong Overseas, said “this court decision once again exposes how the Hong Kong authorities are weaponizing the overly broad concept of ‘national security’ to suppress freedom of expression with impunity”.
The Hong Kong government has said people charged with a criminal offence have the right to a fair hearing.
(Reporting by Jessie Pang; Editing by James Pomfret and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
