Hong Kong
CNN
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A 90-year-old former bishop and outspoken critic of China’s ruling Communist Party was discovered responsible Friday on a cost referring to his function in a aid fund for Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests in 2019.
Cardinal Joseph Zen and 5 others, together with the Cantopop singer Denise Ho, contravened the Societies Ordinance by failing to register the now-defunct “612 Humanitarian Relief Fund” that was partly used to pay protesters’ authorized and medical charges, the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts dominated.
The silver-haired cardinal, who appeared in courtroom with a strolling stick, and his co-defendants had all denied the cost.
The case is taken into account a marker of political freedom in Hong Kong throughout an ongoing crackdown on the pro-democracy motion, and comes at a delicate time for the Vatican, which is making ready to resume a controversial take care of Beijing over the appointment of bishops in China.
Outside the courtroom, Zen advised reporters that he hoped folks wouldn’t hyperlink his conviction to spiritual freedom.
“I saw many people overseas are concerned about a cardinal being arrested. It is not related to religious freedom. I am part of the fund. (Hong Kong) has not seen damage (to) its religious freedom,” Zen stated.
Zen and 4 different trustees of the fund – singer Ho, barrister Margaret Ng, scholar Hui Po Keung, and politician Cyd Ho – had been sentenced to fines of HK$4,000 ($510) every.
A sixth defendant, Sze Ching-wee, who was the fund’s secretary, was fined HK$2,500 ($320).
All had initially been charged beneath the controversial Beijing-backed nationwide safety legislation for colluding with overseas forces, which carries a most penalty of life imprisonment. Those prices had been dropped they usually as an alternative confronted a lesser cost beneath the Societies Ordinance, a century-old colonial-era legislation punishable with fines of as much as HK$10,000 ($1,274) however not jail time for first-time offenders.
The courtroom heard in September that the authorized fund raised the equal of $34.4 million via 100,000 deposits.
In addition to offering monetary assist to protesters, the fund was additionally used to sponsor pro-democracy rallies, comparable to paying for audio gear used in 2019 throughout avenue protests to withstand Beijing’s tightening grip.
Although Zen and the opposite 5 defendants had been spared from being charged beneath the nationwide safety legislation, the laws imposed by Beijing over Hong Kong in June 2020 in a bid to quell the protests has repeatedly been used to curb dissent.
Since the imposition of the legislation, a lot of the metropolis’s distinguished pro-democracy figures have both been arrested or gone into exile, whereas a number of impartial media shops and non-government organizations have been shuttered.
The Hong Kong authorities has repeatedly denied criticism that the legislation – which criminalizes acts of secession, subversion, terrorism, and collusion with overseas forces – has stifled freedoms, claiming as an alternative it has restored order within the metropolis after the 2019 protest motion.
Hong Kong’s prosecution of one among Asia’s most senior clergyman has solid the connection between Beijing and the Holy See into sharp focus.
Zen has strongly opposed a controversial settlement struck in 2018 between the Vatican and China over the appointment of bishops. Previously either side had demanded the ultimate say on bishop appointments in mainland China, the place non secular actions are closely monitored and generally banned.
Born to Catholic dad and mom in Shanghai in 1932, Zen fled to Hong Kong along with his household to flee looming Communist rule as an adolescent. He was ordained as a priest in 1961 and made Bishop of Hong Kong in 2002, earlier than retiring in 2009.
Known because the “conscience of Hong Kong” amongst his supporters, Zen has lengthy been a distinguished advocate for democracy, human rights and spiritual freedom. He has been on the entrance strains of among the metropolis’s most essential protests, from the mass rally in opposition to nationwide safety laws in 2003 to the “Umbrella Movement” demanding common suffrage in 2014.