Responding to the resumption of the trial of activists who organized Tiananmen vigils in Hong Kong, Amnesty International Hong Kong’s spokesperson Fernando Cheung said:
“As closing arguments begin in this trial, the Hong Kong authorities must confront the basic injustice at its heart: commemorating victims of human rights abuses is compassionate, not criminal. Holding people criminally responsible for peaceful commemoration compounds the injustice suffered by the victims of the Tiananmen crackdown.
“Throughout these trial proceedings, Chow Hang-tung and Lee Cheuk-yan have shown remarkable courage and dignity in the face of prosecution. They did nothing but legitimately exercise their human rights in their Tiananmen commemorations.”
Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director Sarah Brooks added:
“The prosecution’s case relies on vague, overly broad and arbitrary definitions of ‘subversion’. The charges against Chow and Lee should be dropped, and the authorities must ensure that people in Hong Kong can freely remember the events of 4 June 1989 without fear of retaliation.
“Chow and Lee are prisoners of conscience, incarcerated simply for exercising their human rights, and they must be immediately and unconditionally released.”
Background
The prosecution and defence are scheduled to deliver their closing statements in the trial of Hong Kong’s Tiananmen activists from 18 May 2026.
Chow Hang-tung and Lee Cheuk-yan were among the members of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China (Hong Kong Alliance) charged with “inciting subversion of state power” under the Beijing-imposed National Security Law in September 2021.
They have been held in pre-trial detention ever since, having been repeatedly denied bail, and face up to 10 years’ imprisonment if convicted. Both have been designated prisoners of conscience by Amnesty International.
Authorities said the annual Tiananmen vigil the Hong Kong Alliance had organized since 1990 was evidence of the group “endangering national security”.
Amnesty International has repeatedly raised concerns that Hong Kong’s National Security Law, enacted in June 2020, is being used to target civil society groups, journalists, political activists and academics for actions that are fully protected under international human rights law.
The Tiananmen vigils commemorated the events of 4 June 1989, when Chinese troops opened fire on students and workers who had been peacefully protesting for political reforms in and around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. Hundreds – possibly thousands – of people were killed. Tens of thousands more were arrested across China in the suppression that followed.
In the 37 years since the crackdown, all discussion of the incident has been heavily censored in China, and authorities have effectively erased it from their version of history.
While commemorating the Tiananmen crackdown was forbidden in mainland China, in Hong Kong crowds reaching hundreds of thousands of people would gather annually in centrally located Victoria Park to peacefully remember those killed. The vigil participants called on the Chinese authorities to reveal the truth about what happened and accept accountability for the atrocity; local government as a practice did not interfere or object.
The last major vigil organized by the Hong Kong Alliance was held in 2019. The Hong Kong vigil was banned in 2020 and 2021, ostensibly on Covid-19 grounds. Since then, the National Security Law has effectively criminalized peaceful protest in the city – including Tiananmen commemorations.
Sign the urgent petition “Release Imprisoned Hong Kong Activists” from today until May 25, 2026 at https://bit.ly/4dqESxz