A Hong Kong court on Monday heard closing arguments in the national security trial of Chow Hang-tung and Lee Cheuk-yan, two former leaders of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, who face charges of inciting subversion under the sweeping security legislation imposed by Beijing in 2020. The pair have pleaded not guilty; if convicted, they each face up to 10 years in prison.
During the trial, the prosecution centered on the alliance’s core demand of “ending one-party rule,” arguing that the defendants had incited others to use unlawful means to overthrow the leadership of China’s ruling Communist Party. In Monday’s session, prosecutor Ned Lai pushed back against the defendants’ human rights arguments, saying that freedoms of speech, assembly, and association are not absolute.
“The freedoms of speech, association and assembly mentioned by D2 and D4 are not ‘trump cards’ that can override the law,” Lai said, according to the Associated Press, referring to Lee and Chow by their defendant numbers.
Lee has denied that “ending one-party rule” means ending the Communist Party’s leadership. He argued that it actually means moving toward democracy, letting the people decide who leads them, and that the Communist Party should not enforce “dictatorship.” Chow, a barrister who defended herself, had argued that her past writing was not about inciting action or hatred but was instead intended to foster Hong Kongers’ understanding of mainland China, where many Chinese also hoped to pursue democracy.
The trial, which began in January, has already seen co-defendant Albert Ho plead guilty, a move that could lead to a reduced sentence. The proceedings had been scheduled to last 75 days but are expected to end earlier, though the judges have not indicated when a verdict might be delivered.
Hong Kong’s annual vigils commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown once drew tens of thousands of participants, making the city the only place in China where such a large-scale public commemoration took place. The vigils were banned in 2020, with authorities citing the COVID-19 pandemic. After pandemic restrictions were lifted, the former vigil site was occupied by a carnival organized by pro-Beijing groups. Some people who attempted to commemorate the event near the site on the June 4 anniversary were detained.
Observers have described the prosecution as reflecting the decline of Western-style civil liberties in Hong Kong under the national security law, the Associated Press reported. Beijing and the Hong Kong government have insisted that the law is necessary for stability.