The campaigners participated in protests and candlelight vigils at the Chinese Embassy in London on June 4, 2023.
Guy Smallman | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Hong Kong’s Supreme Court unanimously overturned three former members of a pro-democratic group on Thursday, whose annual candlelight vigil commemorates China’s 1989 crackdown on Tiamman Square, citing justice.
The ruling is a rare victory for Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement, in which dozens of activists were sentenced to jail or forced to exile, and many free and popular civil society groups were shut down.
In their judgment, five judges from the final court of appeals led by Chief Justice Andrew Cheung said government prosecutors had removed key facts.
They added that this “deprived the appellant of a fair trial, and therefore their belief involved the judicial of abortion.”
The now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance supports China’s patriotic democratic movement, which used to organize annual candlelight vigils to commemorate those who died in and around Tiananmen Square in Beijing in 1989.
Former vice chairman Chow Hang Tung, a former 40-year-old, and two other former executive committee members Tang Ngok-Kwan and Tsui Hon-Kwong were sentenced to 4-1/2 months in March 2023.
They were found guilty of not complying with the National Security Police requested information about the members of the alliance, donors and financial status.
Zhou’s mother expressed her gratitude to the ruling.
“I hope the world will get better,” added media Zhou Lao. “Everyone should be kind and uphold justice.”
Don welcomed the ruling, saying: “Today, we can prove that the alliance is not a foreign agent…justice is in the hearts of the people” and addressed a reporter outside the court.
The group was designated as a “foreign agent” from which it received 20,000 Hong Kong dollars.
However, some key details of the case, such as the identity of the overseas organization and the identity of individuals allegedly associated with the organization, have been criticized from judges.
“By deleting the sole potential evidence base for such facts, the prosecution cannot prove its case,” the judge wrote.
The National Security Law implemented in Beijing allows police chiefs to seek information that is essential for preventing and investigating crimes.
However, during the appeal hearing, Joe, who represented himself, said the claim that the alliance was a foreign agent was difficult to prove because it was incorrect.
She added: “The deer can’t be a horse just because someone thinks it’s a horse.”
Zhou urged the court to end the accomplice of police abuse.
“The police state was created by accomplices who recognized this abuse,” she said. “This co-conspiracy must stop now.”
Detained since September 2021, Chow has also been accused of inciting subversion along with two former league leaders, Albert Ho and Lee Cheuk-Yan.
