A Hong Kong court has dismissed the appeal brought by Cardinal Joseph Zen and fellow trustees of a humanitarian fund, upholding the original 2022 conviction and financial penalty against them.
On September 3, the Hong Kong Court of Appeal upheld the November 2022 verdict of the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Court against Cardinal Zen and four fellow trustees of the now defunct 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund. The five appellants had been deemed guilty by the West Kowloon court of not having properly registered the 612 Fund in accordance with the Societies Ordinance and each fined HK $4,000 in November 2022.
All pleaded not guilty at the time. Along with the 94-year-old cardinal emeritus of Hong Kong, the trustees include former opposition legislator Margaret Ng Ngoi-yee; singer Denise Ho Wan-sze; cultural studies professor Hui Po Keung; and a fifth trustee, Cyd Ho Sau-lan, who was already in jail for “illegal assemblies.” The 612 Fund’s secretary Sze Ching-wee was also fined HK $2,500 but did not appeal his fine.
The 612 Fund was established to offer “legal, medical, psychological, and emergency financial assistance” to those involved in the 2019 protests against the government’s Extradition Law Amendment Bill, which sought to allow prisoners to be transferred to mainland China for trial.
Police began investigating the 612 Fund in September 2021, arguing that it breached the newly established, infamous National Security Law which was enacted in September 2020. Indeed, Zen had been originally arrested due to alleged violation of the NSL, but not charged with any such offence.
The 612 Fund announced it would cease operations as of October 31, 2021, partly due to the new National Security Law, but also because the bank holding the money raised by donations to the Fund had “frozen” the funds.
Zen’s lawyers had argued before the 2022 ruling that “to impose criminal sanctions on the failure to register [under the Societies Ordinance] is an infringement of freedom of association.”
The appeal of the November 2022 conviction began in December 2022, with the five appellants arguing that the 612 Fund had been established as a society rather than a trust. They also argued that the Societies Ordinance did not cover every group or association of people, and convicting them for having violated the Societies Ordinance would lead to an unworkable and ridiculous legal precedent.
However, the Court of Appeal rejected the case today saying that the prosecution had “proved the charge against each of the appellants beyond reasonable doubt.”
“We find that the appellants had all along intended to use the Fund as a vehicle to appeal for, collect and apply public donations for the purpose of supporting the anti Amendment Bill movement,” read the judgement.
The appellants now intend to take their case to Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal, the last available step in the judicial process. Speaking to the press outside the court, their lawyer Margaret Ng said that their case is greater than just the 612 Fund as it concerns the Societies Ordinance itself.
Ng warned that if groups of people are deemed to be a society whenever they do something in common, and therefore “apply for registration or an exemption with the police, this would have a huge impact on Hong Kong civil society.”
Zen has previously stated that the case is a civil matter. “I’m just a Hong Kong citizen who strongly supports providing humanitarian assistance,” he said after the November 2022 verdict.
The cardinal added that “although I’m a religious figure, I hope this won’t be associated with our freedom of religion. It’s not related.”
Michael Haynes is an English journalist in the Holy See Press Corps. He serves as Vatican Correspondent for the Catholic Herald, while readers can follow him at Per Mariam and on X @MLJHaynes.
