Hong Kong Court Hears Closing Arguments in Subversion Trial Over Tiananmen Vigil Organisation
Closing arguments concluded in the Hong Kong High Court case of Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung, who face up to 10 years in prison for organising a June 4 vigil. Judgment is expected in July.
Closing arguments have been heard in the trial of Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung in Hong Kong's High Court. The pair face up to 10 years in jail if convicted of incitement to subversion for organising a candlelight vigil to mark the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. Hong Kong's High Court began hearing closing arguments earlier this month.
Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung have pleaded not guilty. A third defendant, 74-year-old former lawyer Albert Ho, pleaded guilty in January. The judgment is expected to be delivered in July. On June 4, 1989, months of pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, came to a head.
Under leader Deng Xiaoping, the Chinese Communist Party ordered an estimated 180,000 troops and police to enter the square with tanks and armoured vehicles. Soldiers used live ammunition to force their way through crowds. Estimates of people killed range from hundreds to thousands.
Hong Kong was handed back to China by Britain in 1997. The Hong Kong Basic Law promised that the capitalist system and way of life shall remain unchanged for 50 years. A national security law was brought in in 2020, followed by a new national security law in 2024 that granted the government more power to quash dissent.
Vigils have been held in Hong Kong on June 4 since 1990, with hundreds of thousands of people participating. In 2020, on the pretext of COVID, the June 4 vigils were banned by the Hong Kong government. Since then, anyone turning up on June 4 has been arrested and subject to charges under the national security law.
The Hong Kong 47 were arrested in January 2021 and charged with subversion. In November 2024, 45 people from the group were convicted, with jail terms ranging from four to 10 years.
U.S. Congressional hearing. Pro-Beijing groups have in recent years rented out Victoria Park to set up market stalls on June 4. Ted Hui and Kevin Yam both have HK$1 million ($180,000) bounties on their heads.
The mass protests known as the Umbrella Movement paralysed Hong Kong for 79 days in late 2014. Huge and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests occurred in Hong Kong in 2019. Abc reported that the trial is part of a broader crackdown on long-enjoyed freedoms in Hong Kong.
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