A Hong Kong court on Monday played recordings of anti-Beijing speeches dating back nearly three decades as prosecutors pressed national security charges against two democracy activists accused of subversion.
The defendants, Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung, are former leaders of the now-defunct Hong Kong Alliance, which for years organized annual candlelight vigils commemorating Beijing’s deadly June 4, 1989, crackdown in and around Tiananmen Square. Authorities have banned the vigils in recent years.
Lee and Chow are standing trial for “incitement to subversion,” an offense punishable by up to 10 years in prison, according to a report by Agence France-Presse.
As the hearing opened, Lee, 68, wiped his eyes while seated in the dock as large courtroom screens showed footage of him in 1996 calling for a “democratic China,” a year before Hong Kong’s handover from Britain to Chinese rule.
Rhetoric denouncing the Chinese Communist Party was once common in Hong Kong, but it has largely disappeared since the imposition of a sweeping national security law in 2020.
Prosecutor Ned Lai denied the proceedings amounted to a “political trial,” saying the case focused on the Alliance’s repeated calls to “end one-party rule” in China, a central principle of the group since its founding in 1989. Prosecutors argued that such calls constituted an attempt to subvert the state.
Lai added that Lee and Chow maintained their political stance even after the security law took effect.
In a video clip from 2020 played in court, Lee said, “We hold on to our principle and we would not retreat… It’s very important that we believe in democracy and we can practise our belief.”
Chow, 41, a barrister who represented herself, frequently smiled at supporters seated in the public gallery. In another clip from May 2021, she was heard saying, “We will still be in Hong Kong, to defend the truth about June 4 and continue to resist dictatorship.”
The court also heard dozens of additional clips showing the defendants speaking at vigils, protests and press interviews over the years.
Hong Kong authorities have said the national security law has no retroactive effect.
Lee and Chow, who pleaded not guilty, have been detained since 2021. Chow sought to introduce expert testimony from Taiwanese sociologist Ho Ming-sho, but the three-judge panel rejected the request.
A third defendant, Albert Ho, 74, pleaded guilty last week and was excused from the trial, which is scheduled to last 75 days.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch condemned the case last week as an attempt at “rewriting history.”
