National security trial for Hong Kong’s Tiananmen vigil organizers opens

Описание: (22 Jan 2026)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hong Kong – 22 January 2026
1. Pan of prison van believed to be carrying organizers of a vigil commemorating people killed in Beijing's Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989 arriving at court building
2. Mid of police outside court building
3. SOUNDBITE (Cantonese) Kayee Lau, Hong Kong resident:
++SOUNDBITE STARTS ON PREVIOUS SHOT++
“I believe that anyone who participated in candlelight vigils in the past might like to come along and accompany those who stand trial today. Let’s see the court decision - it is also a judgement on Hong Kongers who participated in candlelight vigils.”
4. Police
5. Various of China and Hong Kong flags at court building
STORYLINE:
A trial against two pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong opened Thursday.

The defendants are behind a group that for decades organized a candlelight vigil that commemorated people killed in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989.

It's another landmark case brought under a China-imposed national security law that has practically crushed protests in the semiautonomous Chinese city of Hong Kong.

Critics say their case shows that Beijing’s promise to keep the city’s Western-style civil liberties intact for 50 years when the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997 has weakened over time. But the city’s government said its law enforcement actions were evidence-based and strictly in accordance with the law.

Chow Hang-tung and Lee Cheuk-yan, former leaders of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, were charged with incitement to subversion in September 2021 under the law.

They are accused of inciting others to organize, plan or act through unlawful means with a view to subvert state power, and if convicted, they face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

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