The Hong Kong activist after being vigilant in Tiananmen is sentenced to 15 months in prison

HONG KONG, Jan 4 (Reuters) – A Hong Kong court sentenced a 36-year-old lawyer to 15 months in prison on Tuesday for instigating an unauthorized assembly to commemorate those who died in China’s 1989 crackdown on pro- democracy in and around. Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

Activist Chow Hang-tung, of the closed Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, was arrested a day before the June 4 anniversary of last year’s coup.

Police have stopped annual vigils at Tiananmen in Hong Kong for the past two years, citing coronavirus restrictions.

But after massive pro-democracy protests in 2019, many activists saw the bans as an attempt to shut down opposition protests against Beijing. Authorities denied that was the reason.

Despite the ban, thousands of people lit candles across the city in 2020, and smaller crowds did the same in 2021.

Chow’s indictment relates to social media posts titled “Lighting a Candle is Not a Crime: Stay on the Ground” and her article in the Ming Pao newspaper titled “Candlelight carries the weight of conscience and Hong Kong people insist on it to tell the truth. “

Magistrate Amy Chan at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Court said she found that the posts and article were intended to “encourage, persuade, make suggestions and put pressure on members of the public” and “were concerned with inciting others to to knowingly participate in an unauthorized assembly ”.

Chan added that the assembly posed “a risk to public health”.

Chow, who represented herself, had pleaded not guilty, saying she wanted to “encourage others not to forget June 4” so as not to encourage a rally. Chan said she found the argument “simply unbelievable”, adding that Chow’s academic qualifications would have allowed her to be clearer in her writing.

“It can be predicted that the public space to discuss June 4 will disappear completely,” a tearful Chow told the court after the ruling. “Tirana is greedy, the red lines will constantly expand.”

Last month, eight pro-democracy activists were sentenced to up to 14 months for their role in the 2020 vigilance. Among them, Chow was sentenced to 12 months.

Five months of the sentence announced Tuesday will end simultaneously, meaning Chow will only serve 10 months in addition to her previous sentence.

THE STATUES ARE EXAMINED, THE MUSEUM IS CLOSED

Sixteen other activists are already serving sentences of 4-10 months in connection with the 2020 vigil. Two pro-democracy activists facing similar charges, Nathan Law and Sunny Cheung, had fled Hong Kong before being charged.

Chow also faces charges of inciting overthrow under a comprehensive security law passed by Beijing in 2020. The alliance disbanded amid that investigation, with police accusing him of being an “agent of foreign forces”, which the group had denied it.

The former British colony, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997 with the promise of broad freedoms, traditionally holds the largest June 4 vigil in the world.

But the reminders have become increasingly difficult. Last month, major international universities in the global financial center removed Tiananmen monuments, including the “Pillar of Shame” at Hong Kong University and the “Goddess of Democracy” at Chinese University. Read more .

A June 4 museum was raided by police during the Alliance investigation and closed, and its online version cannot be accessed in Hong Kong.

China has never given a full picture of the 1989 coup. The death toll given by officials days later was about 300, most of them soldiers, but rights groups and witnesses say thousands could have been killed.

Written by Marius Zaharia; Edited by Raju Gopalakrishnan

Our standards: Principles of Thomson Reuters Trust.