Hong Kong convicts cardinal over protest fund

A controversial fund for protesters was found used for politicking.

HONG KONG, China (AFP) — A 90-year-old Hong Kong cardinal was among six dissidents convicted on Friday over their running of a multi-million-dollar legal defense and medical fund for arrested anti-government protesters.

Cardinal Joseph Zen, one of Asia’s highest-ranking Catholics, is among the scores of veteran activists facing legal threats as China stamps out protest in the former British colony.

Five of the group were fined HK$4,000 (US$500) for the crime of failing to properly register the fund as a society, while a sixth got a smaller fine.

Zen’s group acted as trustees and secretary of the now-defunct “612 Humanitarian Relief Fund,” which helped pay legal and medical costs for people arrested during the 2019 unrest.

The fund disbanded last October after national security police demanded it hand over operational details, including information about its donors and beneficiaries.

Prosecutors revealed in court that the fund had raised as much as HK$270 million from more than 100,000 separate donations.

They said “part of the fund was used for political activities and non-charity events,” including donations to protest groups and activists overseas.

The defense argued that the fund was “merely a name given to a sum of money” and the defendants did not form any society.

“The criminalization for failure to register is undoubtedly a curb on these important freedoms for civil society,” defense counsel Gladys Li said.

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