On Friday Cardinal Joseph Zen was found guilty of failing to register a <a href="http://612 Humanitarian Fund">now-disbanded humanitarian fund</a> which paid medical and legal fees for pro-democracy protesters. He was among five people connected with the fund to be convicted.
The 90-year-old cardinal was fined HK$4,000 (about £420), the same amount as barrister Margaret Ng, scholar Hui Po-keung, politician Cyd Ho and singer Denise Ho. Sze Ching-wee, the secretary of the fund, was fined a smaller amount. The maximum penalty for the offence could have amounted to £1,000.
The arrest and trial of Cardinal Zen and his companions have drawn wide criticism from Western governments who recognise it as part of a crackdown on dissent under a sweeping national security law imposed by China.
The <em>South China Morning Post</em> reported that the ruling can be seen as “a prelude to more legal troubles as national security police continue to probe into the group’s alleged collusion with foreign forces”.
The trial centred on whether it was necessary for the trustees of the <em>612 Humanitarian Relief Fund</em> to apply for local society registration between 2019 and 2021.
Principal Magistrate Ada Yim said that the fund “had political objectives and thus it was not established solely for charitable purposes”. In her judgment, Yim ruled that the fund was a “local society” and was subject to its rules.
Representing the cardinal, who was bishop of Hong Kong between 2002 and 2009, Robert Pang argued in court last month that imposing “criminal sanctions on the failure to register must be an infringement of freedom of association”. The cardinal’s lawyer argued that the defendants were not members of a society and had only helped run the fund.
Anthony Chau (prosecuting) told the court that requiring the fund to register did not infringe on freedom of association, adding that it has spent most of the donations of more than HK$450 million.
As she left the court, Margaret Ng explained the significance of the ruling to reporters outside the court, saying that this was the first time anyone in Hong Kong had been convicted under the Societies Ordinance for failing to register a society.
Ng said, “It is also extremely important about the freedom of association in Hong Kong under the Societies Ordinance”. She added that the group would take time to decide its next steps, stressing that freedom of association in Hong Kong is “extremely important”.
Zen has long been a staunch advocate of democratic rights and freedoms, and a critic of the Chinese Communist Party. Outside the court, he stressed that the fund had aimed to help people in need.
“I'm just a Hong Kong citizen who strongly supports providing humanitarian assistance,” he told reporters from <em>Reuters</em> after the verdict.
“Although I'm a religious figure, I hope this [case] won't be associated with our freedom of religion. It's not related.”
Although some <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/11/hong-kong-national-security-police-arrest-cardinal-joseph-zen">concern</a> has been expressed in Rome regarding Zen’s trial, the lack of support for the ageing prelate, who has from the outset been a staunch critic of <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/as-vatican-deal-with-china-set-for-renewal-are-too-many-blind-eyes-being-turned/">the Vatican deal with the CCP</a>, has been startling.
As recently as September, the former Prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Gerhard Müller, was outspoken in his criticism of the silence emanating from the Vatican.
“Cardinal Zen was absent in Rome because he is under house arrest for raising his voice against Beijing, defending human rights both in Hong Kong and China,” Cardinal Müller said, referring to the August consistory that reflected on the Apostolic Constitution that seeks to reform Roman Curia.
According to Müller, during the consistory no senior Vatican official nor the pope mentioned Zen or his trial.
“There will be an unfair trial next month,” Müller predicted at the time. “Nobody has raised the grave question of our brother Zen. Neither the Dean [of the College of Cardinals], Cardinal Re, nor the Secretary of State, Cardinal Parolin, not even the pope. There was no solidarity document, no prayer initiative for him,” the German cardinal lamented.
“I hope he won't be abandoned. The extraordinary consistory would have been an opportunity to declare full solidarity with Zen on the part of all the cardinals of the College,” he said. Müller also said that there are obviously “political reasons” that prevent the Holy See from taking any initiative in support of Zen.
“I am referring to the agreement over bishop appointments [in China] which the Holy See recently signed with the government of Xi Jinping. I am sorry to say this [agreement] does not serve the interests of the Holy See and the Vatican State to the ecclesial dimension and the truth,” he claimed.
The verdict is not necessarily the end of Cardinal Zen’s tribulations, as authorities could still take further action against him. Investigations are ongoing.
