(Hong Kong) Democracy movement figure Chow Hang-tung was found guilty on Tuesday of inciting in 2021 to participate in a forbidden vigil in memory of the Tiananmen crackdown, a few months after being sentenced to one year of prison for similar facts in 2020.
Currently in prison, Mme Chow, a 36-year-old lawyer who defended herself. She was one of the leaders of the Hong Kong Alliance, the association organizing the annual vigil in honor of the victims in 1989 of the bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing on Tiananmen Square.
In 2020 and 2021, the Hong Kong police had banned the holding of these gatherings, citing the COVID-19 epidemic and security threats.
Courts have already convicted many activists, including Mr.me Chow, to jail terms for violating this ban in 2020.
The lawyer was arrested on June 4, 2021 after publishing two articles calling on residents to light candles and commemorate the anniversary.
On Tuesday, a court ruled that this constituted incitement to break the ban.
“The law does not allow anyone to exercise their freedom by illegal means,” judge Amy Chan ruled.
” She [Chow] was determined to attract attention in order to call the population to come together, ”she added.
Throughout the hearings and proceedings, Mr.me Chow has shown his determination to fight.
On Tuesday, she read in court excerpts from the memoirs of families of people killed in Tiananmen.
The magistrate immediately blamed him, and the police were ordered to take the identity numbers of those who applauded.
Mme Chow condemned the court’s decision, accusing authorities of making free speech a crime.
“The message this verdict sends is that lighting a candle is a crime, that words are a crime,” she said. “The only way to defend freedom of expression is to continue to speak out.”
The sentence is due on Tuesday.
Hong Kong has long been the only place in China where the commemoration of the Tiananmen events was tolerated.
For more than three decades, every June 4, tens of thousands of people gathered to participate in these vigils of remembrance.
Since the huge pro-democracy protests of 2019, Beijing has taken over Hong Kong.
The leaders of the Hong Kong Alliance, including Mr.me Chow, are among dozens of activists prosecuted for violating the National Security Act, which carries the potential for life imprisonment.