Hong Kong condemns two activists remembering Tiananmen

BarcelonaA Hong Kong court convicted activists Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung on Friday for the crime of inciting subversion. Both were part of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, and had organized commemoration events for the Tiananmen Square massacre, in the repression of pro-democracy protests in Beijing in 1989.

Every June 4th, activists held a ceremony in Hong Kong to remember the events. The trial against Lee and Chow took place under the national security law imposed by China after the massive protests in Hong Kong in 2019, and the sentence, which is still being drafted, could condemn them to a maximum of ten years in prison, according to the local media Hong Kong Free Press.

During the trial, the prosecution accused the Alliance of inciting the expulsion of the Communist Party from the government through its calls to "end the one-party regime", one of the organization's main foundations since its founding in 1989. Prosecutors have argued that these calls violate the Chinese Constitution, after an amendment approved in 2018 established that the leadership of the Communist Party is the "defining characteristic" of the country's "fundamental" system. The public prosecutor's office also accuses the convicted of fostering "public hatred" towards Beijing.

The defense, on the other hand, maintains that all the Alliance's objectives constitute a "legitimate exercise of fundamental human rights", as indicated by the Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post. Chow argued during the trial that advocating for the end of the one-party system is not the same as trying to oust the Communist Party from its leading position, and that pursuing democratic change "should not be considered illegal".

A controversial law

The national security law, approved by Beijing in June 2020, punishes crimes such as secession, subversion, terrorism, and collusion with foreign forces with penalties that can reach life imprisonment. Authorities argue that this legal framework has allowed for the restoration of stability and the protection of national security after the massive protests of 2019, but human rights organizations and foreign governments denounce that the regulations have reduced the space for political dissent and civil liberties.