90-year-old former bishop of Hong Kong charged with improperly registering a help fund for these arrested in 2019 protests.
A 90-year-old Catholic cardinal and 5 others have gone on trial in Hong Kong on Monday for allegedly failing to register a now-defunct fund to assist present authorized help to folks arrested within the 2019 pro-democracy protests.
Cardinal Joseph Zen, the retired bishop of Hong Kong, was arrested in Might along with others together with singer Denise Ho and barrister Margaret Ng beneath the nationwide safety legislation.
They’ve since been charged for failing to correctly register the 612 Humanitarian Aid Fund.
Zen, along with Ho, Ng in addition to cultural research scholar Hui Po Keung and former legislator Cyd Ho, had been trustees of the fund. A sixth defendant, Sze Ching-wee, was the fund’s secretary.
All have pleaded not responsible.
Not one of the defendants spoke to reporters on their method into West Kowloon courtroom on Monday morning.
If convicted they face a high-quality of as much as 10,000 Hong Kong {dollars} ($1,274) however no jail time.
“Colluding with international forces”, the safety legislation offence for which they had been initially arrested, carries a possible life time period.
The 612 fund helped pay medical and authorized charges for arrested protesters throughout the 2019 protests however was wound up final yr after the nationwide safety police demanded data on its operations together with its donors and beneficiaries.
The Societies Ordinance requires native organisations to register or apply for an exemption inside a month of their institution.
Prosecutors say Zen and the others failed to take action.
The case has shocked many in Hong Kong, Catholic and non-Catholic alike.
The Vatican, which is working to resume a controversial settlement with Beijing over the appointment of bishops in mainland China, has been muted on Zen’s arrest, stating solely that it was monitoring the event of the scenario intently.
Shanghai-born Zen, who’s now retired, has been essential of the 2018 deal calling it a “sellout” of China’s underground Catholics who’ve confronted persecution for remaining loyal to Rome and refusing to recognise the Communist Get together-sanctioned Catholic Patriotic Affiliation.
China imposed the nationwide safety legislation on Hong Kong within the wake of the 2019 protests, which generally turned violent.
Lots of the metropolis’s most distinguished supporters of democracy, together with elected politicians, have gone into exile whereas dozens of civil society teams have closed down.
Amnesty Worldwide, which shut its workplace within the territory final yr, stated the legislation has “decimated” freedoms in Hong Kong.
Beijing and the Hong Kong administration say it has restored stability.
The courtroom isn’t sitting on consecutive days and the trial is anticipated to conclude in early November.