Published: Less than 20 min ago
A 90-year-old cardinal and five other people have been sentenced in Hong Kong for running a fund intended to help arrested democracy activists.
They were fined for not registering the support fund as an organization.
Cardinal Joseph Zen is one of the Catholic Church’s most prominent representatives in Asia, and it attracted a lot of attention when he was arrested in May under the new security law imposed by Beijing in Hong Kong. He was released shortly after his arrest.
The suspicions at the time concerned collusion with a foreign power with the aim of endangering China’s national security, which is punishable by life imprisonment. None of the six have so far been charged with the more serious crime.
One of the co-defendants is lawyer and democracy activist Margaret Ng. Outside court, she said it is the first time someone has been convicted of failing to register an organization and that the ruling has a major impact on freedom of association in Hong Kong.
The aid fund that was started in 2019 to help people arrested during the pro-democracy protests was disbanded in October after the security police demanded to know who donated money and who received support.