HK cardinal, activists appeal against protest fund conviction

HK cardinal, activists appeal against protest fund conviction

Hong Kong’s outspoken Cardinal Joseph Zen and four other pro-democracy activists have appealed against a court verdict that found them guilty of associating with a fund that supported protesters in the 2019 unrest, says a report.

The appeal was made by Zen, barrister Margaret Ng, former lawmaker Cyd Ho, scholar Hui Po-keung and singer-activist Denise Ho who were trustees of the now-defunct 612 Humanitarian Fund, Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP) reported on April 23.

According to the Hong Kong Judiciary’s website, their appeal is scheduled to be heard at the High Court on Jan. 8, 2025. The hearing is likely to continue for three days.

In November 2022, then-principal magistrate Ada Yim found Zen and the activists guilty of not properly registering their fund as a society under the city’s Societies Ordinance. They were fined HK$4,000 (US$511) each.

Sze Ching-wee, the fund’s former secretary, charged alongside the trustees in the case, was also found guilty and fined HK$2,500.

Sze didn’t challenge his conviction.

The fund was created in June 2019 to offer financial and legal support to hundreds of pro-democracy, arrested or injured, protesters who clashed with police during the oft-violent demonstrations that erupted in the former British colony.

The pro-Beijing Hong Kong administration crushed the protests and arrested dozens of pro-democracy politicians, activists, and supporters.

Zen, long known as a staunch critic of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its human rights violations, was briefly detained along with other activists in May 2022 but later released.

Many others, including Catholic media mogul and pro-democracy advocate Jimmy Lai, have been jailed under Hong Kong’s Beijing-imposed draconian National Security Law.   

The 2022 verdict ruled that the fund created by the five trustees carried “political aims.” 

The judge also said the group had engaged the public and was connected with political groups.

In August 2021, the fund announced it would dissolve after it learned that the company holding the fund, the Alliance for True Democracy Limited, would soon be defunct, HKFP reported.

The fund had been using the Alliance’s bank accounts to receive donations.

The five trustees were arrested in May 2022 by the city’s national security police. Local media reported at the time that they were accused of colluding with foreign forces, but such charges have not been laid on them.

Hong Kong, once known as a free city in Asia, plunged into political turmoil in 2019 as Beijing sought to assert more control, sparking protests from pro-democracy supporters.

Critics say Beijing’s attempts to dismantle a higher degree of autonomy, freedom, and rights in Hong Kong violated the promises made when Britain handed over the city in 1997 under the “one country, two systems” framework.