Explainer: What to know about Hong Kong’s past Tiananmen commemorations and nat. security trial of vigil leaders

Hong Kong activist Chow Hang-tung declared her national security trial a "trial of the law itself" during a defiant closing argument. The barrister-turned-activist is accused of "inciting subversion" under the national security law, a charge carrying a maximum of 10 years in prison. Chow is standing trial alongside former colleague Lee Cheuk-yan and their organization for their roles in holding Hong Kong's annual candlelight vigils commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.

From 1990 to 2019, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China organized these vigils every June 4 at Victoria Park. The events called for accountability for the bloody crackdown and the democratization of China, demands considered taboo in mainland China. Following the 2019 protests, Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong in 2020, leading to the arrest of the Alliance's leadership, including Chow, in 2021. The Alliance subsequently voted to disband, ending its decades-long vigils and advocacy.

Prosecutors contend the case against the Alliance is not political but centers on the group's slogan "end one-party rule," which they allege constitutes a call for the overthrow of China's Communist Party. However, Chow, representing herself, argues that the prosecution has undermined Hong Kong's status as a city that tolerated political dissent absent in mainland China. She believes the trial forces the court to choose between the rule of law and an authoritarian regime.

The current trial is a consequence of the national security law, enacted after widespread pro-democracy demonstrations in 2019. The Alliance itself was founded in 1989 amid massive pro-democracy protests in mainland China, triggered by the death of reformist former CCP leader Hu Yaobang. The group's founding and subsequent vigils represented a significant act of solidarity and remembrance in Hong Kong, a stark contrast to the official silence on the events of 1989 in mainland China.

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This prosecution is, in fact, a trial of the law itself.