Judges at Hong Kong’s top court have questioned the grounds for convicting three core members of a now-disbanded alliance behind the city’s annual Tiananmen Square vigil for failing to help with a police investigation.
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The bench of five judges at the Court of Final Appeal heard on Wednesday that while the convictions stemmed from the police commissioner’s “reasonable belief” the group was a “foreign agent”, the justification for holding that view was not disclosed in the original trial.
Under the implementation rules of the national security law, the police chief can request a range of information from a suspected foreign agent or one with links to Taiwan.
The trio from the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China have asked the city’s top court to overturn their convictions.
Former vice-chairwoman Chow Hang-tung and ex-standing committee members Tsui Hon-kwong and Tang Ngok-kwan were sentenced to 4½ months’ jail in 2023 after they rejected a police request for details about group members, donors, financial reports and activities.
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They have argued their refusal did not violate the national security law, imposed by Beijing in 2020.