BEIJING: A court in the Chinese territory Macau sentenced on Friday (Nov 6) ex-lawmaker and democracy campaigner Au Kam San to 12 years and six months in prison for subversion and other offences.
Au, 69, is the first person convicted under national security laws widened in 2023 in Macau, the former Portuguese colony and casino hub which reverted to China in 1999.
He co-organised annual vigils for victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing, something previously tolerated only in Macau and neighbouring Hong Kong.
Au, detained in July 2025 and whose closed-door trial concluded in September in three days, was found guilty of "subversion against the political power of the State" among other offences, a court statement said.
Au "personally provided, over a long period of time, assistance and collaboration to external hostile organisations in the collection, preparation, and public dissemination of various images and information that were manifestly filled with political claims of a subversive nature against the political authority of the State," it said.
He also sought to "incite hatred among Macau residents against the Central People's Government, with the intent to overthrow and undermine the fundamental system of the State enshrined in the Constitution of the People's Republic of China," it added.
The European Union last year condemned his arrest, saying it only heightened concerns about the "erosion of political pluralism" in Macau.
The organisation Justice Abroad said in July that Au's family, including his wife and three daughters, have not been permitted to see or speak with him since shortly after his detention.
The family received only one telephone call from him, lasting less than one minute, on the day after his arrest, Justice Abroad said.
"My father dedicated more than 30 years of his life serving the people of Macau. Nearly a year has passed, and we are still unable to communicate with him," daughter Cherry was quoted as saying in the statement.
"All we ask for is a fair trial, due process, and for his more than three decades of dedication to the people of Macau not to be erased or forgotten... (We) must be allowed to visit him or, at the very least, communicate with him," she said.
Au was a teacher but after the 1989 crackdown in China, he came to believe that Macau urgently needed to become an open, democratic society, and entered politics.
"I admit that in the fight for democracy we have accomplished nothing, but I believe in sowing seeds and giving them a chance to grow," he told AFP in 2024.
"Even though we are in a bitter winter, if there are changes to the external environment, these seeds in Macau may yet have a chance to sprout and forge a new path towards democracy," he said. - AFP
