Hong Kong court hears Tiananmen vigil sentencing arguments

Shum, representing Lee Cheuk-yan and Albert Ho, further argued that the alliance's advocacy work did not change China's fundamental system and that the Communist Party remained stable and functioning. The submissions are part of a sentencing phase in a national security prosecution linked to the alliance's activities over the three decades before the vigil was effectively shut down in 2020 amid a broader crackdown on public commemoration of the Tiananmen events.

The Defence's Argument

The arguments come as Hong Kong's courts continue to handle cases arising from the enforcement of the National Security Law imposed on the city in June 2020. Prosecutors have previously argued that the alliance's organisational structure and its persistent campaigning amounted to subversion, a characterisation the defence has consistently rejected. Shum's framing on Friday sought to draw a sharp line between the group's rhetorical objectives and any operational capacity to act on them against mainland authorities.

The alliance was a founder of the city's largest annual commemoration of the June 4, 1989, military suppression of pro-democracy demonstrators in central Beijing. For nearly three decades, attendees gathered in Victoria Park holding candles and listening to testimonies and songs, but authorities have refused permission for such assemblies in recent years and the alliance was effectively disbanded after several leading members, including Lee and Ho, were arrested.

A Test of Memorial Rights

Lee Cheuk-yan and Albert Ho, along with other former alliance members, have pleaded not guilty to the charges. The trial proceedings and earlier verdicts have drawn attention from international human rights monitors, diplomats and diaspora Chinese communities, many of whom view the case as a barometer for the residual space available in Hong Kong for political memory and assembly. The judgement and any sentence handed down will be closely tracked overseas.

The sentencing hearing is expected to continue over coming court sittings, with prosecutors anticipated to respond to the defence's mitigating arguments before the judges reach a decision. Chow Hang-tung, another former alliance vice-chairperson whose separate case has also drawn international attention, has been mentioned in coverage of the broader prosecution but was not identified as a participant in Friday's mitigation arguments.

Outside the courthouse, supporters and family members of the defendants have continued to gather in small numbers despite restrictions on public assembly. Hong Kong-based civil society groups have said the proceedings will inform their assessments of how national security legislation is being applied to acts of remembrance rather than to operational plots. Foreign consulates have monitored the case from the public gallery when permitted.

The Tiananmen vigil itself has not been authorised in Hong Kong since 2020, a development that coincided with the imposition of the National Security Law and the disqualification of the alliance's registration under the Societies Ordinance. Subsequent legal proceedings against the group's former leadership represent one of the most visible applications of the security framework to an organisation whose primary public activity was an annual memorial gathering.