Cardinal Zen, singer Denise Ho and 3 other trustees take 2019 protest fund convictions to top court

Five pro-democracy figures convicted of failing to register a fund linked to the 2019 protests and unrest have taken their case to Hong Kong’s top court, after losing an appeal last month.

Cardinal Joseph Zen, barrister Margaret Ng, former lawmaker Cyd Ho, scholar Hui Po-keung, and singer-activist Denise Ho were listed on the Court of Final Appeal website’s list of forthcoming appeals when HKFP checked on Monday.

The five were trustees of the since-disbanded 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, which provided financial assistance to protesters arrested during the anti-extradition protests and unrest in 2019.

The assistance was used to pay for protesters’ legal, medical, or other fees.

The five were found guilty in November 2022 of not registering their fund as a society under the city’s Societies Ordinance, and were each fined HK$4,000 by the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts.

Last month, the Court of Appeal upheld the convictions. The five had lodged an appeal arguing that the fund was established as a trust rather than a society. They also argued that the ruling implied nearly all groups holding activities must be registered as societies, infringing upon the freedom of association.

In the judgment, three Court of Appeal judges said the fund was indeed a society, and therefore it had to apply for registration or an exemption under the law.

Chief Judge of the High Court Jeremy Poon called the fund more than “a mere sum of moneys held by the appellants,” and said that the appellants had used the fund to appeal for and collect donations to support the 2019 protests.

According to local media, the guilty verdicts mark the first time there has been a conviction for this offence.

The fund’s trustees announced in August 2021 that it would disband because it no longer had a bank account it could use. At the time, Ng said it was a “matter of deep regret” that the fund had to cease operations, but that it was “already a remarkable achievement for Hong Kong civil society that we have come this far.”

Safeguard press freedom; keep HKFP free for all readers by supporting our team

Support HKFP  |  Policies & Ethics  |  Error/typo?  |  Contact  |  Newsletter  | Transparency & Annual Report | Apps

Make a one-off donation.

Hillary Leung is a journalist at Hong Kong Free Press, where she reports on local politics and social issues, and assists with editing. Since joining in late 2021, she has covered the Covid-19 pandemic, political court cases including the 47 democrats national security trial, and challenges faced by minority communities.

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Hillary completed her undergraduate degree in journalism and sociology at the University of Hong Kong. She worked at TIME Magazine in 2019, where she wrote about Asia and overnight US news before turning her focus to the protests that began that summer. At Coconuts Hong Kong, she covered general news and wrote features, including about a Black Lives Matter march that drew controversy amid the local pro-democracy movement and two sisters who were born to a domestic worker and lived undocumented for 30 years in Hong Kong.