A Hong Kong court has decided that the national security trial of the now-disbanded group that organised Tiananmen crackdown vigils in the city will begin in November.
High Court Judge Alex Lee, one of the three judges presiding over the case, said on Monday that the court had set aside 75 days for the national security trial scheduled to begin in November, with hearings to be held at the West Kowloon Law Courts.
Lee, who is presiding over the national security trial of media tycoon Jimmy Lai, had earlier fixed May 6 as the start date for the trial of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China but delayed it to November, citing scheduling reasons.
The judge also set aside a date to handle lawyer-activist Chow Hang-tung’s application to have the charge against her thrown out.
The court will hear Chow’s application to quash the incitement of subversion charge on November 3, and proceed with the trial on November 11 if her application fails, Lee said.
Chow, along with former lawmakers Albert Ho and Lee Cheuk-yan, were former members of the alliance charged alongside the vigil group itself with inciting subversion of state power under the Beijing-imposed national security law.
The three face a maximum penalty of life imprisonment if convicted.
Chow had earlier applied to have the charge against her thrown out on the grounds that the prosecution had failed to inform the defendants about the accusations in question.
Guilty plea
Erik Shum, Ho’s lawyer, said that his client intended to plead guilty and was in talks with the prosecution regarding the ex-lawmaker’s plea. Shum had already said earlier in February that Ho intended to enter a guilty plea.
Ho would be excused from hearings if he pleaded guilty, but may have to testify under some circumstances, Lee said.
In the event that Ho has any disagreements with the prosecution’s version of events, a “Newton hearing” will be ordered to determine the factual basis for sentencing. It will take place at the same time as the November trial, Lee said.
However, the likelihood that Ho would disagree with the prosecution’s facts would not be high, Shum told the court on Monday.
For three decades, the alliance organised an annual candlelight vigil to commemorate the victims of the Tiananmen crackdown, which occurred on June 4, 1989. It is estimated that hundreds, perhaps thousands, died when the People’s Liberation Army quashed a student-led pro-democracy movement in Beijing.
The vigil in Victoria Park has been banned since Beijing imposed its security law in June 2020. The alliance voted a year later to disband after its former leaders were prosecuted.
