Investigated for “conspiracy with foreign troops”, they are accused of not having registered a fund that helped those detained in the protests for democracy
After being postponed last week because his judge contracted Covid, the oral hearing against Cardinal Emeritus Joseph Zen and five other Democratic activists in Hong Kong began this Monday. In a case with a clear political background, they were all arrested in May under the National Security Act imposed by the Chinese regime, which criminalizes virtually all opposition in the former British colony. But at the moment, they are only being tried for failing to legally register an organization called the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, which provided financial support in court for those detained in the democracy-calling demonstrations that shook Hong Kong in 2019.
Sitting on the bench as managers of that fund, alongside Cardinal Zen, are the famous singer Denise Ho, former opposition members Margaret Ng and Cyd Ho, and a former professor at Lingnan University, Hui Po-keung. The last defendant, Sze Ching-wee, was the secretary of the organization. All risk a fine of 10,000 Hong Kong dollars (1,275 euros) for failing to register the fund under the Companies Ordinance, a colonial-era law dating back to 1911.
Although it is a crime punishable only by an administrative sanction, all those charged are still under investigation for alleged “conspiracy with foreign forces” punishable by life imprisonment by the draconian national security law imposed by Beijing on June 30, 2020.
In September last year, the police in charge of implementing the National Security Act warned that the Fund was on the trail of 612 and had asked its managers for information about the donations they had received and the money they gave for legal assistance to the accused for the protests. Like virtually all critical Hong Kong organizations targeted by the law, the fund stopped accepting donations and closed in October 2021 due to the “current political climate.” Police are also investigating another association, the Alliance for True Democracy, which helped collect the donations.
In an international climate increasingly polarized by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, the arrest of Cardinal Zen and his associates in the West sparked a new wave of criticism of the Chinese regime for its repression in Hong Kong. Although the former British colony enjoyed more political and social freedoms than the rest of the country, they were annulled by the National Security Act and the Electoral Reform Act, which vetoed the opposition because “only patriots can rule Hong Kong”.
Adding to the outrage at the political persecution against Cardinal Zen, one of the most critical voices for democracy against Beijing, is his advanced age, 90, and his frail health, as seen Monday when he arrived leaning on a stick to the West. Kowloon Court. While none of the defendants made statements, according to Agence France Presse, they all pleaded innocent. After the hearing, which will last all week, both sides will present their conclusions in late October, early November and the trial will be seen for the sentencing.
The trial of Cardinal Zen comes at a particularly delicate time, as China and the Vatican should renew the agreement they signed in 2018 for the consensual appointment of bishops in the coming days. While the details of this type of concordat are unknown, it was extended for another two years in 2020 and Beijing and the Vatican are negotiating its extension. Apart from its symbolic value, its importance is questioned because in these four years only six dioceses of the thirty vacant dioceses have been filled.
Although Cardinal Zen opposes the said agreement and has warned Pope Francis not to renew it, the Holy See is cautious about prosecutions and continues to approach positions with the Chinese regime, with which it has no diplomatic relations. Instead, the Vatican continues to recognize Taiwan, the ‘de facto’ democratic and independent island claimed by Beijing. This lack of official ties has caused a separation between the official church, controlled by the Communist Party, and the underground, which remain loyal to the Vatican and whose believers and bishops continue to be persecuted.
Cardinal Zen was always on the defensive, being interviewed twice by the ABC newspaper. In 2007, ten years after Hong Kong’s return to China, he warned of the continuing curtailment of freedoms that the former colony was suffering from. A decade he described as “frustrating” for assuring that even then there was “less freedom than before.” Twenty-five years after the transfer of sovereignty, which took place on July 1, Cardinal Zen is sitting on the bench.
Source: La Verdad
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