The Albany Gazette - Freedom of speech 'not an absolute right', Hong Kong trial of Tiananmen activists hears

Hong Kong and Macau were once the only places in China where people could publicly mourn Beijing's deadly crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989.

Defendants Lee Cheuk-yan, 69, and Chow Hang-tung, 41, were leaders of a now-defunct group called the Hong Kong Alliance that arranged an annual candlelight vigil in the city's Victoria Park for decades.

However, Beijing imposed a national security law on the former British colony in 2020 after huge and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests the year before.

Lee and Chow were arrested in 2021 and are standing trial for "incitement to subversion", which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in jail.

Chow, a lawyer who is representing herself, smiled at supporters who waved enthusiastically from the public gallery as the hearing began, while Lee sat quietly in the dock taking notes with a ballpoint pen.

Prosecutor Ned Lai said the pair's remarks over the years were not merely an expression of personal opinions, "but were intended to incite others to commit unlawful acts".

He accused the defendants of "endangering national security in the name of human rights", adding that freedom of speech and association are "not absolute rights".

Erik Shum, a defence lawyer representing Lee, told the court that the Alliance's "end one-party rule" slogan did not mean it intended to overthrow Communist Party leadership.

"It does not target the Communist Party, no matter which party is in power... it should not be a dictatorship," Shum said.

He told the three-judge panel that the court must not pay "lip service" to human rights, adding that the right to criticise state organs is protected by Hong Kong's Basic Law.

Shum said the prosecution provided no evidence that the Alliance had incited people to take action to topple the Communist Party using unlawful means.

Dozens of clips were played during the trial, which began in January, showing the defendants speaking at vigils, protests and in media interviews over the years.

Chow will present her closing arguments on Tuesday.

Supporters, who were warned not to speak to the defendants, shout slogans or express personal opinions, waved and smiled as the court was adjourned.

- 'An absurd trial' -

The Alliance was founded in May 1989 to support the democratic movement led by students and workers in Beijing.

Its key tenets included "building a democratic China" and "ending one-party rule".

Chow wrote in a letter to a group of families of victims of the crackdown this month: "This is an absurd trial where the plaintiff has become the defendant."

"But the trial is, ultimately, a public process that can examine facts and record testimony and evidence," she said.

Lee, a veteran labour activist and a witness to the 1989 crackdown, told the court in March he felt no enmity towards the Communist Party and hoped it would reform.

A third defendant, 74-year-old former lawmaker Albert Ho, pleaded guilty in January.

Tang Ngok-kwan, a former Alliance committee member, said on Monday he believed that the group had been acting within the law.

"Our ultimate goal is to build a democratic China," Tang said. "All along, we felt that we were exercising our civil rights in a reasonable manner."

Fernando Cheung, a spokesperson for Amnesty International, said in a statement on Monday that "holding people criminally responsible for peaceful commemoration compounds the injustice suffered by the victims of the Tiananmen crackdown".

The rights group urged authorities to drop all charges and release the activists.

(B.Smith--TAG)