Ex-lawmaker Au Kam-san jailed for 12½ years in Macau’s first national security trial

Former Macau opposition lawmaker Au Kam-san has been convicted on five of seven charges in the city’s first national security trial, with the court handing down a 12½-year prison sentence following closed-door proceedings.

The Court of First Instance on Friday found Au, 69, guilty on four counts under Macau’s national security law – subversion of state power and establishing links with foreign groups or individuals to commit activities endangering national security – as well as a fifth count of violation of secrecy.

The court acquitted Au of two counts of subversion of state power arising from his alleged collusion with multiple foreign organisations, according to a court statement.

Au was charged with seven offences on March 27: three counts of subversion of state power; three of establishing links with foreign groups or individuals to commit activities endangering national security; and one of violation of secrecy.

According to the statement, a closed-door trial took place between September 16 and 18.

The court analysed all evidence, including the defendant’s statement, witness statements, seized items, communication records and relevant criminal investigation reports, to form the conviction, a spokesman said.

“Even though the suspect is a first-time offender and has admitted a substantial part of the facts, his level of intention is extremely high. The illegality of the relevant crimes and their potential consequences are both extremely serious,” he said.

Under Macau’s civil law system inherited from Portugal, a defendant in a criminal trial does not plead guilty or not guilty to the charges. They may confess to the facts set out in an indictment or offer their own account of events to the judge.

On one count of subversion and one count of establishing links with foreign groups or individuals to commit acts endangering national security, the court found that Au had aided and cooperated with hostile organisations over a lengthy but unspecified period of time.

Au was found to have collected, prepared and publicly disseminated political ideas deemed subversive, as well as misinformation and photos of a similar nature, to collude with hostile foreign organisations and conspire to incite hatred against the Macau and mainland Chinese governments in an attempt to overthrow the nation’s fundamental order.

On the two other counts of subversion and two counts of establishing links with foreign organisations or individuals to endanger national security, the court found Au had disrupted Macau’s 2024 chief executive election. It said he also colluded with multiple external organisations between 2023 and 2024 to help them collect “false and clearly twisted” information, and conspired to publicly spread it in an attempt to provoke hostile action by overseas forces against the central and Macau governments.

But the court acquitted him of the two subversion charges, ruling that his actions did not meet the threshold for the offence.

For the final charge, Au was found to have leaked confidential information about closed-door Legislative Assembly meetings on gambling licence renewals in 2021 to overseas organisations.

Au was sentenced to 12½ years in jail over the convictions.

On Friday morning, a staff member of the Macau government’s press office told the South China Morning Post that only four seats were available for local media at the court on a first-come, first-served basis.

A diplomat from the European Union’s Office to Hong Kong and Macau was not granted access to observe the proceedings. Au holds Portuguese citizenship.

A Macau government spokesman said the court had reached its judgment in accordance with the law and protected the defendant’s rights.

“The government urges society to respect the court’s judgment and support the judiciary’s exercise of its right to judge, defending the tradition of judicial justice and the rule of law,” he said.

In a commentary published under the pen name “Gang Ao Ping”, Beijing’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office said the verdict showed the city’s determination to safeguard national security and the strength of its national security legal system.

“Au Kam-san, acting under the guise of so-called democracy and freedom, has colluded with external forces on activities against China and meddling with Macau, causing a serious threat to national security and damaging Macau’s prosperity. The crimes are palpable,” the article said.

In an open letter, Au’s wife, Virginia Cheang Mio-san, called the trial an act of “political persecution” against her husband and said the family would not accept the sentence.

“From a closed-door trial to a public verdict, what kind of operation is this? It is a political trial and groundless persecution to humiliate his character,” she wrote.

Cheang added that she hoped she would be allowed to write to her husband and have regular visits that “would not be deprived by additional criteria”.

“As for other things, I believe all subjective wishes would only lead to greater disappointment, therefore I don’t wish to think or talk about them,” she said.

Michael Polak, a London-based barrister representing Au, said his client had been convicted in a sham trial.

“Mr Au should never have been seized and detained for his non-violent beliefs, including that the people of Macau should have some say in their future,” Polak said.

Au had been remanded in custody for more than a year after his arrest last July.

His daughter reportedly said that Au had been denied phone calls and family visits, as well as access to a lawyer of his choosing.

Au served as a lawmaker in the Legislative Assembly for two decades until 2021 and was a founding member of several opposition groups, including the New Democratic Macau Association.

He was also a founding member of the now-dissolved Macau Union of Democratic Development, which held annual candlelight vigils commemorating the Tiananmen Square crackdown until local authorities banned the event in 2021. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST