Hong Kong’s top court overturns convictions of Tiananmen vigil activists
Leaders of now-dissolved group, including Chow Hang-tung, were sentenced to jail in 2023 for rejecting police request
Hong Kong’s top court has quashed the convictions of three core members of a now-disbanded alliance behind the city’s annual Tiananmen Square vigil after they were jailed for failing to help with a police investigation.
The Court of Final Appeal on Thursday overturned the lower courts’ decisions by ruling that the trio from the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China were deprived of a fair trial.
In response, the government said it would study the judgment and the relevant legal principles, while also reviewing its experience in taking law enforcement action to safeguard national security.
Former vice-chairwoman Chow Hang-tung and ex-standing committee members Tsui Hon-kwong and Tang Ngok-kwan from the now-dissolved group were previously convicted by a lower court for refusing to provide police with details about the alliance’s members, donors, financial reports and activities in September 2021.
The trio, who had been sentenced to 4½ months’ jail in 2023, launched the first legal challenge over the implementation rules of the Beijing-imposed national security law, which empowered the police chief to request a range of information from a suspected foreign agent or one with links to Taiwan.
They argued that the prosecution had failed to prove the alliance was “in fact” a foreign agent.