The national security trial of the now-disbanded group that organised vigils for the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown has been delayed again, with the first trial date scheduled in January next year.
According to Judiciary records retrieved on Friday, the High Court has fixed January 22 as the start date for the trial of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China.
Three former members of the alliance – lawyer-activist Chow Hang-tung, and former pro-democracy lawmakers Lee Cheuk-yan and Albert Ho – were charged alongside the vigil group itself with inciting subversion of state power under the Beijing-imposed national security law.
All three have been detained ahead of the trial. Chow has been on remand for over four years, while Lee and Ho have been detained for around four and two years respectively.
The three face a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment if convicted.
Twice delayed
Chow’s application to quash her national security charge will still be held on November 3, as previously confirmed in a pre-trial hearing.
She 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.
The trial would originally have begun on November 11, High Court Judge Alex Lee, one of the three judges presiding over the case, said in August.
The trial had already been delayed once. Lee had earlier fixed May 6 as the start date but delayed it to November, citing scheduling reasons.
The court has set aside 75 days for the January trial, which will be held at the West Kowloon Law Courts.
Ho’s lawyer, Erik Shum, at the August hearing said his client intended to plead guilty.
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 was banned after Beijing imposed its security law in June 2020. The alliance voted a year later to disband following the prosecution of its former leaders.
Chow was involved in another national security-related case, along with Tang Ngok-kwan and Tsui Hon-kwong, also of the now-disbanded alliance.
They were acquitted of failing to comply with police’s demand for information under the Beijing-imposed security law at the Court of Final Appeal after the top court judges ruled unanimously that they had been deprived of a fair trial.
