Hong Kong Free Press
The national security case against the defunct organiser of the city’s annual Tiananmen vigil will be tried without a jury, one of the defendants has said.
Three former leaders of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China – Lee Cheuk-yan, Albert Ho, and Chow Hang-tung – stand accused under the Beijing-imposed national security law of alleged incitement to subversion.
A post from Chow’s Facebook page on Sunday evening said that “not surprisingly,” she had received a certificate from the secretary for justice, dated December 1, “demanding” that the case to be tried without a jury.
According to Chow’s post, the justice secretary listed three reasons for a non-jury trial: “involvement of foreign factors in the case, protection of personal safety jurors and their family members, and/or if the trial is to be conducted with a jury, there is a real risk that the due administration of justice might be impaired.”
The barrister and former vice chairperson of the Alliance has been remanded in custody since September last year. During that time, she has been sentenced to prison over two banned Tiananmen vigils.
Before disbanding following a members’ vote in September last year, the Alliance organised the city’s annual candlelight vigils commemorating victims of the Tiananmen crackdown.
It is estimated that hundreds, perhaps thousands, died when the People’s Liberation Army was deployed to crack down on protesters in Beijing, ending months of student-led demonstrations in China on June 4, 1989.
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