A Hong Kong court sentenced three former leaders of the group responsible for organizing the territory's annual Tiananmen Square candlelight vigils to prison terms of up to seven years and three months on Friday following their convictions under the national security law.
The sentences were handed down at West Kowloon Court by a panel of three High Court judges, bringing an end to one of the most prominent national security cases in the Special Administrative Region. Former Hong Kong Alliance chairman Lee Cheuk-yan received a seven-year prison sentence, while former vice-chairwoman Chow Hang-tung was sentenced to seven years and three months. Former vice-chairman Albert Ho Chun-yan, who entered a guilty plea prior to the trial, received a reduced sentence of five years and two months.
In addition to individual prison terms, the court imposed a fine of 1 point 5 million Hong Kong dollars, equivalent to approximately 192,000 United States dollars, on the now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China.
Judicial Rationale and Conviction Basis
The defendants and the organization were convicted of inciting subversion of state power, primarily centering on the group’s decades-long political platform calling for an end to one-party rule in mainland China.
In their ruling, the judges determined that the alliance had actively incited public animosity toward the Chinese Communist Party. The court noted that the organization drew explicit parallels between the central government's response to the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing and the actions taken by Hong Kong law enforcement during the anti-government protests that swept the territory in 2019.
Dissolution of the Hong Kong Alliance and Legislative Context
For over thirty years, the Hong Kong Alliance organized mass candlelight vigils every June 4 in Victoria Park to commemorate the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. The annual events drew tens of thousands of participants and served as one of the most visible symbols of Hong Kong's distinct political freedoms within China.
Local authorities banned the gatherings in 2020 and 2021, citing public health and security concerns. The alliance officially voted to disband in September 2021 as law enforcement agencies initiated investigations into its operations and leadership under the national security legislation enacted by Beijing in June 2020.
The national security law explicitly criminalizes acts of subversion, secession, terrorism, and collusion with foreign or external forces. The sentencing of the former alliance leadership marks a definitive conclusion to organized legal commemorations of the Tiananmen Square events within the territory.
