Hong Kong court set to rule on ex-Tiananmen vigil leaders' national security case

A Hong Kong court is scheduled to deliver its verdict on Friday in the national security trial of two prominent activists who once led the city's annual Tiananmen Square commemorations. The case is the latest in a series of legal actions that have dismantled much of Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement under the security law imposed by Beijing in 2020.

Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung were key figures in the now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China. For three decades, the group organized candlelight vigils that drew tens of thousands of people each year to remember the victims of the 1989 crackdown. Both have pleaded not guilty to inciting subversion, a charge that carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. Three government-vetted judges are expected to deliver the ruling at 10 a.m. local time.

The vigil was banned in 2020 during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, just weeks before the security law was imposed on Hong Kong. The law was introduced following the massive anti-government protests of 2019. Observers say the trial highlights the erosion of freedom of expression in the former British colony, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

During the trial, prosecutors argued the case was not political, focusing on what they described as the alliance's call to incite others to overthrow the leadership of China's ruling Communist Party through unlawful means. They pointed to "ending one-party rule," one of the group's core demands. Lee told the court that the call was about moving toward democracy and letting the people decide who leads them, not about ending the party's leadership. He said the Communist Party should not enforce "dictatorship."

Chow, a barrister who defended herself, said "ending one-party rule" means ending a state where power is unrestricted. She criticized the case, saying the standard for determining right and wrong had been turned upside down. In a social media post on Thursday, she described being shackled in handcuffs and waist and ankle chains for trips to court from prison, saying she was walked by correctional service officers "like a dog." She added that "justice lives in the hearts of the people" and that one verdict doesn't matter much.

The trial, initially scheduled for 75 days, concluded its closing statements on the 24th day. When it began in January, another defendant, Albert Ho, entered a guilty plea, a move that typically could result in a reduced sentence. If Lee and Chow are convicted, they are expected to plead for lesser penalties at a separate hearing and could be sentenced at a later date alongside Ho.

Hundreds of people, and possibly thousands, were killed in the 1989 crackdown as tanks rolled into the center of Beijing. The event was a pivotal moment in China's modern history, determining that market reform would not be coupled with political liberalization. After COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, the former vigil site in Hong Kong was occupied instead by a carnival organized by pro-Beijing groups. Some people who tried to commemorate the event near the site on June 4 were brought away by police.

Beijing has said the security law was necessary for the city's stability. Many leading activists have been jailed under the same law, including pro-democracy former media tycoon Jimmy Lai. Dozens of civil society groups have also dissolved under the drastic political changes. Before the alliance voted to disband in September 2021, police had sought details about the group, saying they had reasonable grounds to believe it was acting as a foreign agent. The alliance rejected the allegations and refused to cooperate, resulting in Chow and two other core members each being sentenced to 4 1/2 months in prison in a separate case in 2023. The trio overturned their convictions at the city's top court in 2025.