What to know about the two former Tiananmen vigil organizers on trial in Hong Kong

HONG KONG (AP) — Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung are two prominent Hong Kong activists who helped lead the group behind the city’s massive annual vigils commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. They were charged in 2021 with inciting subversion under Hong Kong’s national security law.

The former leaders of the now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China are awaiting a verdict in a case that has drawn international attention, with critics saying it highlights the erosion of freedoms in the territory under the law imposed by Beijing.

Here’s a brief look at the two activists:

Lee, 69, was the former chair of the Hong Kong Alliance. During the 1989 student-led Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement, he brought donations from Hong Kongers to Beijing in late May. When troops and tanks entered the heart of Beijing and opened fire to end the protests in June, he was at a hotel that night hearing the gunshots, he said in his testimony at court . The crackdown killed hundreds, possibly thousands.

Lee later boarded a plane to return to Hong Kong but was asked to leave the plane by police before it took off. He was detained. He was allowed to go back to Hong Kong on June 8 after being questioned and signing a letter of repentance, he said.

His experience made him devote himself to letting the world know about what happened. Beyond his Tiananmen activism, Lee is also a veteran labor activist in the city and a former lawmaker.

The national security trial has focused on the alliance's core demand of “ending one-party rule.” The prosecution alleged that the group's advocacy was about inciting others to use unlawful means to overthrow the leadership of China’s ruling Communist Party. Lee denied he held enmity toward the party leading the country, saying his desire to see it reform stemmed from his love for the people.

“I have no enmity in my heart, only love," he said.

Chow, 41, began going to the vigils when she was just a primary school student. A natural sciences graduate of the University of Cambridge, she later studied law and became a vice-chair of the alliance.

Before the alliance voted to dissolve in September 2021, police had sought details about its operations and finances in connection with alleged links to pro-democracy groups overseas, accusing the group of being a foreign agent. But the group refused to cooperate , insisting it was not.

Chow, alongside two other core members of the group, was convicted in 2023 over their refusal and received a sentence of 4 1/2 months each. But last year, the trio overturned their convictions at the city’s top court.

While Chow was behind bars, she became one of the first people to be arrested under a newer, homegrown national security law in 2024. Authorities alleged she and several others had used a Facebook page to publish seditious posts, saying they were targeting a “sensitive date.”

The authorities have not detailed the content of the posts. But the page published a series of posts to mark the anniversary of the 1989 crackdown.

Despite limited resources in prison, Chow represented herself in the national security trial and stood firm in her defense.

“Speaking the truth has become inciting hatred, seeking justice has become exploiting suffering, accountability and limiting power have become violating the constitution, and returning power to the people has become subverting the state,” she argued in her closing statement .