A 90-year-old Hong Kong cardinal is on trial Monday along with four other pro-democracy supporters for managing a fund to defend people arrested during anti-government protests.
Cardinal Joseph Zen, one of Asia’s top Catholic cleric, was originally arrested earlier this year under a national security law Beijing imposed on Hong Kong to quell dissent.
His arrest for “collaborating with foreign forces” sent shockwaves through the city’s Catholic community and renewed criticism of the Vatican’s warming ties with Beijing, including from other senior clerics.
Police have not yet charged Zen with a national security violation that could result in life imprisonment.
Instead, he and his co-defendants, including activist and singer Denise Ho and veteran human rights lawyer Margaret Ng, are prosecuted for the less serious offense of failing to properly register their defense fund as a corporation.
If convicted, they face a fine of up to HK$10,000 (US$1,274) but no jail time. All have pleaded not guilty.
The Vatican remained silent on Zen’s arrest, saying it was concerned and “is following the evolution of the situation very closely”.
Pope Francis I declined to comment on Zen’s arrest when asked about it earlier this month, but said he was determined to continue the dialogue with Beijing.
Zen’s indictment comes at a sensitive time for the Vatican, which is working to renew its controversial deal with Beijing later this year to appoint bishops in China.
Zen was extremely critical, calling the deal a “sellout” by China’s underground Catholics.
– ‘We left him’ –
One of the senior Catholic ministers to criticize the Vatican’s response to Zen’s arrest is German Cardinal Gerhard Müller.
“We failed him,” Mueller told Italian newspaper Il Messaggero earlier this month, saying he was disappointed that a recent consistory — a gathering of cardinals in Rome — did not come out in favor of Zen.
“I do not want the consistory’s silence on Bishop Zen to reveal the fact that this cardinal is being sacrificed on the altar of reason to defend and implement the diplomatic agreement with Beijing. I foresee that risk and feel pain,” he added.
Zen’s group acted as trustees of a now-defunct fund that helped pay for legal fees and medical expenses for those arrested three years ago during large and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests.
China responded to these protests with a comprehensive crackdown on dissent.
A majority of the city’s most prominent democracy activists are now in prison or have fled abroad, while dozens of civil society groups have been shut down.
Some groups have been prosecuted for irregularities in funding and registration, although several have functioned without incident for years, including the coalition that used to organize the city’s annual Tiananmen Square vigil.
Hong Kong government says prosecutors are simply following the law.
Critics claim a form of “lawfare” has been instituted to silence critical groups and embroil them in costly litigation.
Zen’s 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund is accused of improper registration under the Societies Ordinance, a 1911 colonial-era law.
The fund was dissolved after the National Security Police ordered it to release operational details including information about its donors and beneficiaries.
The investigation was sparked when one of the defendants, cultural scholar Hui Po-keung, was intercepted at Hong Kong airport on May 10 while attempting to leave the country to take up an academic position in Europe.
