Hong Kong Court Rejects Cardinal Zen’s Appeal
He was convicted in 2022 alongside barrister and former legislator Margaret Ng, former lawmaker Cyd Ho, singer Denise Ho and academic Hui Po-keung for failing to register the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund under Hong Kong’s Societies Ordinance.
Each was fined HK$4,000 (about €440). The convictions were the first of their kind under the ordinance.
The fund was established in June 2019 to provide legal, medical and other financial assistance to people arrested or injured during the protests. It ceased operations in October 2021.
Today, three judges rejected the defendants’ argument that the fund was money administered through a trust and therefore did not constitute a “society.”
They found that those governing the fund had mutual rights and obligations and that it was more than money held on trust. It therefore qualified as a “society” and should have registered or applied for an exemption.
The court also rejected arguments on freedom of association, finding the registration requirement did not impose an unacceptably harsh burden on that right.
Ng said the defendants intended to appeal to Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal. She said clarification was needed on what constitutes a “society” and warned the judgment could have significant consequences for civil society.
Zen and the other trustees were arrested in May 2022 on suspicion of “collusion with foreign forces” under Hong Kong’s national security law. They were never charged with that offence.
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