Hong Kong-The Human Court of Hong Kong revoked on Thursday the convictions of three former organizers of an annual vigil in memory of the repression of the Tiananmen square of 1989 for its refusal to provide information to the Police, marking a rare victory for the prodemocratic activists of the Chinese territory.
Chow Hang-Tung, Tangk-Kwan and Tsui Hon-Kwong, members of the Core of the Hong Kong alliance in support of China’s patriotic democratic movements, were sentenced in 2023 during the repression of Beijing by the city’s prodemocratic movement. They received a sentence of 4 1/2 months and have already fulfilled their terms.
The alliance was known for a long time to organize vigils to candles in the city on the anniversary of the Chinese army crushing of the 1989 addemocratic protests in Beijing. But he voted to dissolve in 2021 in the shadow of a broad national security law imposed by China.
The critics said that the closure and case showed that the Western civil liberties of the city were being reduced despite the promises that they would remain intact when the old British colony returned to the Chinese domain in 1997.
Before the group dissolved, the police had sought details about their operations and finance in relation to the alleged links with prodemocratic groups abroad, accusing him of being a foreign agent. But the group refused to cooperate, insisting that it wasn’t.
On Thursday, the judges of the Court of the final appeal of Hong Kong unanimously ruled in favor of the trio. The president of the Supreme Court Andrew Cheung announced the decision in the Court.
The Prosecutor’s Office needed to demonstrate that the alliance was a foreign agent, the judges wrote, adding that the lower courts “fell into error” by maintaining that it was simply enough that the police commissioner said he had reasonable reasons to believe that the alliance was a foreign agent.
In a trial in the lower court, the recurring were also disagree with crucial details that were written, including the names of groups that supposedly had links to the alliance.
The judges ruled that writing the only probable potential basis to establish that the alliance was a foreign agent, the Prosecutor’s Office disabled demonstrating its case.
“The non -description of the facts written in any case deprived the recurring of a fair trial,” they wrote.
After the ruling, Tang told journalists outside the court that he expected the ruling of the Superior Court to show that the alliance was not a foreign agent and that in the future they could demonstrate that the 1989 movement was not a counterrevolutionary riot.
“Justice lives in people’s hearts. Regardless of the result, everyone knows the truth in their hearts, ”he said.
During a previous hearing in the Superior Court in January, Chow, who represented herself, said her case highlighted what a police state is.
“A police state is created by the complicity of the Court to support such abuses. This type of complicity must stop now, ”he said.
Since the Security Law was introduced in 2020, several non -permanent judges abroad have resigned from the Superior Court, asking questions about the confidence in the city’s judicial system. In 2024, Jonathan Summy left his position and said the rule of law was deeply committed.
But Cheung in January said that the premature exits of the judges did not mean that the independence of the Judiciary was weakening.
The annual vigil in the Victoria of Hong Kong was the only large -scale public commemoration of the repression of June 4 on the Chinese soil for decades. Thousands assisted it annually until the authorities prohibited it in 2020, citing antipondemic measures.
After lifting the restrictions of COVID-19, the park was occupied by a carnival organized by Pro-Beijing groups. Those who tried to commemorate the event near the site were arrested.
Chow and two former leaders of the Alliance, Lee Cheuk-Yan and Albert Ho, were accused of subversion in a separate case under the security law. They remain in custody, waiting for the beginning of their judgment.
In a separate ruling on Thursday, the judges of the Superior Court dismissed the attempt of the prodemocratic activist Tam Tak-Chi to cancel their sedition sentences in a historical case presented under a law of the colonial era that was used to crush the dissent.
Tam was the first person judged under the sedition law since the delivery of 1997 and was declared guilty of 11 positions in 2022, including seven charges of “pronouncing seditious words.”
The law of the colonial era was repealed last year after the Government introduced a new its own harvest security law that said it was necessary for stability. Critics concern that the law further limits freedoms.
