MACAU, China: Macau has concluded its first national security trial behind closed doors, a court said on Friday (Sept 18), days after proceedings began in a former pro-democracy lawmaker's case.
A verdict will be issued at a later date, Macau's Court of First Instance said in a statement.
The Chinese casino hub expanded the scope of national security laws in May 2023, and a bill passed this year allows judges to hear national security cases behind closed doors.
Au Kam San (pic), a former Macau lawmaker who was detained in July 2025 on charges including subversion, was the first person to be arrested under the island's new laws and the first to face a closed trial.
The proceedings which opened on Wednesday have ended, the Court of First Instance said, adding that "the verdict will be delivered on a date to be scheduled later".
It said that Au, who was charged with "subversion of state power" as well as building ties with foreign groups and media outlets deemed harmful to China, "is accused of endangering national security".
Michael Polak, a London-based barrister representing 69-year-old Au, criticised the handling of the case.
It is "impossible for evidence to have been properly evaluated and a proper process to have been followed for such a serious offence in such a short period of time", Polak said.
Au was one of the organisers of annual vigils in Macau - a former Portuguese territory which reverted to China in 1999 - in memory of the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.
Macau and Hong Kong were once the only places in China where such public commemorations could take place. - AFP
