After five witnesses were cross-examined on Tuesday, Cardinal Joseph Zen’s second day in court in Hong Kong, the magistrate decided that there was enough evidence to support a trial.
On September 27, the 90-year-old cardinal made a further appearance at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts. In the preliminary hearing, the prosecution brought four police officers and one more witness to testify.
The cardinal and five other people are accused of failing to legally establish a fund to offer legal help to pro-democracy protestors, according to the Hong Kong Free Press. Principal Magistrate Ada Yim determined that the prosecution has enough evidence to bring a case against them.
On October 26, Zen will go on trial again. Under Hong Kong’s draconian national security regulations, he and other democratic advocates were detained in May. He might get a fine of around $1,200 for the present, less severe offense, but no prison time.
Several other people have been prosecuted for failing to submit an application for local society registration for the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund between 2019 and 2021, in addition to Zen, who has been out on bail since the beginning of May.
Lawyer Margaret Ng, singer-activist Denise Ho, cultural studies expert Hui Po-keung, activist Sze Ching-wee, and former lawmaker Cyd Ho are among those charged with Zen.
All of the accused have entered a not guilty plea. For a separate crime, Cyd Ho is already incarcerated. Up to its dissolution in October 2021, the fund assisted pro-democracy demonstrators with their legal expenses.
According to the Hong Kong Free Press, the legal counsel for the six defendants said that they would not present any evidence or summon any witnesses, but instead would provide legal arguments about how the Societies Ordinance of Hong Kong should be interpreted.
The legal foundation established after Great Britain ceded control of Hong Kong to China in 1997 is the Basic Law of Hong Kong, according to the defendants’ attorneys.
This week, Zen’s trial attracted attention on a global scale, and a number of Catholic leaders and human rights advocates expressed support for the retired bishop of Hong Kong.
Zen’s trial “further undercuts China’s promise of ‘one country, two systems’ when Hong Kong was returned to its rule in 1997 and shows the government cannot be trusted to keep its agreements,” Paul Marshall, the director of the Religious Freedom Institute’s South and Southeast Asia Action Team, told CNA.
He said that the prosecution and trial of 90-year-old Cardinal Zen for peacefully soliciting money demonstrates the extraordinary measures the Chinese government would take to suppress any remaining expressions of dissent and free religion in Hong Kong or the mainland.