Hong Kong’s top court overturns convictions of Tienanmen vigil activists
Leaders of now-dissolved group, including Chow Hang-tung, were sentenced to jail in 2023 for rejecting police request.
members of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China — were convicted in 2023 during Beijing’s crackdown on the city’s pro-democracy movement. They received a sentence of 4 1/2 months and have already served their terms.

The alliance was long known for organizing candlelight vigils in the city on the anniversary of the Chinese military’s crushing of the 1989 pro-democracy protests in Beijing. But it voted to disband in 2021 under the shadow of a sweeping national security law imposed by China.

Critics said the shutdown and the case showed that the city’s Western-style civil liberties were shrinking despite promises they would be kept intact when the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

Before the group dissolved, police had sought details about its operations and finances in connection with alleged links to pro-democracy groups overseas, accusing it of being a foreign agent. But the group refused to cooperate, insisting it was not.

On Thursday, judges at the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal unanimously ruled in the trio’s favor. Chief Justice Andrew Cheung announced the decision in court.

The prosecution needed to prove that the alliance was a foreign agent, the judges wrote, adding that the lower courts “fell into error” in holding that it was sufficient merely that the police commissioner said he had reasonable grounds to believe the alliance was a foreign agent.

In their appeal, the appellants also took issue with crucial details that were redacted, including the names of groups that were alleged to have links with the alliance.

The top court’s judges ruled that by redacting the only potential evidential basis for establishing that the alliance was a foreign agent, the prosecution disabled itself from proving its case.

“Non–disclosure of the redacted facts in any event deprived the appellants of a fair trial so that their convictions involved a miscarriage of justice,” they wrote.