HONG KONG TIANANMEN VIGIL LEADERS CONVICTED OF INCITING SUBVERSION

Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung, former leaders of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, were convicted on Friday of inciting subversion under Beijing's national security law. Three government-approved judges found them guilty alongside the organisation itself. The pair have been in custody since 2021, pleaded not guilty, and face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. A third defendant, Albert Ho, pleaded guilty when the trial began in January. Sentencing is to be determined at a later date.

The judges ruled that the alliance's stated goal to "end one-party dictatorship" constituted an attempt to strip the Communist Party of its constitutionally protected leadership role rather than a demand for greater political participation. The court found the word "end" in the alliance's slogan carried the meaning of "overthrowing" and "undermining" China's Communist Party. Judges concluded the defendants intentionally encouraged supporters to pursue this goal through unlawful means when opportunity arose. The alliance had organised Hong Kong's annual candlelight vigil commemorating the 1989 military crackdown on pro-democracy protesters at Tiananmen Square in Beijing, which killed hundreds of people. The vigil drew tens of thousands to Victoria Park each year for three decades and was the only large-scale public commemoration of the crackdown held on Chinese soil.

Hong Kong authorities banned the vigil in 2020, citing Covid restrictions, weeks before Beijing imposed the national security law following the city's mass anti-government protests in 2019. The crackdown has been described as a defining moment in modern Chinese history that prevented China's economic transformation from being accompanied by political liberalisation.