Senior Catholic, 90, one in every of six activists, together with singer Denise Ho, fined for failing to register the fund.
Cardinal Joseph Zen and 5 different Hong Kong activists have been discovered responsible of failing to register a multimillion-dollar help fund they established to assist individuals arrested in 2019’s pro-democracy protests get authorized help.
A court docket on Friday fined 5 of the group 4,000 Hong Kong {dollars} ($512) for failing to correctly register the fund as a society, whereas a sixth was fined a smaller quantity.
In addition to Zen, 90, the others convicted included common singer Denise Ho, and veteran human rights lawyer Margaret Ng.
All had pleaded not responsible, organising a two-month trial. They’re amongst 1000’s arrested in reference to the 2019 protests, which started with mass marches in opposition to a authorities plan to permit extradition to mainland China however advanced into typically violent protests calling for extra democracy within the former British colony.
Below Hong Kong’s Societies Ordinance, a society should apply for registration or an exemption from registration inside one month of being arrange.
The defence questioned whether or not the legislation even utilized to the 612 Humanitarian Reduction Fund, which helped pay authorized and medical prices for individuals arrested in the course of the 2019 unrest, however Justice of the Peace Ada Yim discovered that it did.
Yim mentioned “the one and irresistible inference” from the trial was that the fund was a “native society” and so topic to the principles.
“Contemplating the social and political occasions in recent times, if a society has connections with political teams … the society’s operations could have an effect on public order, public peace and nationwide safety,” Yim added.
The six had been arrested in Might below sweeping nationwide safety laws that Beijing imposed on the territory in 2020. The group has but to face fees below that legislation, which might carry a sentence of as much as life in jail.
Talking outdoors the court docket, Ng mentioned it was the primary time anybody had been convicted for failing to register a society, including that it was “extraordinarily vital in relation to the liberty of affiliation in Hong Kong”.
Additionally outdoors the court docket, Zen advised reporters to not place an excessive amount of emphasis on his spiritual identification. “I’m a Hong Kong citizen who supported this humanitarian work,” he mentioned. “Hong Kong has not seen any harm to its spiritual freedom,” he burdened.
The group acted because the fund’s trustees. Secretary Sze Ching-wee was additionally charged and fined 2,500 Hong Kong {dollars} ($320).
The fund disbanded final October after nationwide safety police demanded it hand over operational particulars, together with details about its donors and beneficiaries.
Prosecutors revealed in the course of the trial the fund had raised as a lot as 270 million Hong Kong {dollars} ($34.6m) in additional than 100,000 separate donations.