Macao sentences former pro-democracy legislator Au Kam-san to 12.5 years
A court convicted the former politician of subverting state power after a closed-door trial, while his wife condemned the case as political persecution.
By Evelyn Adeyemi ·
Former pro-democracy politician Au Kam-san has been sentenced to 12 years and six months in prison in Macao following a national security trial held behind closed doors. The court announced its ruling on Friday, finding the 69-year-old guilty of subverting state power.
The conviction concerned what the court described as the dissemination of false information during 2023 and 2024, intended to disrupt Macao’s leadership election in 2024. In a statement explaining its decision, the court also accused Au of cooperating with organisations abroad that it characterised as hostile, promoting a political agenda and passing confidential information to overseas groups.
In explaining the sentence, the court acknowledged that Au had no previous convictions and had admitted to a substantial portion of the criminal facts. It nevertheless assessed his intent as high and said both the unlawfulness of his actions and their potential consequences were very serious.
Au’s wife, Virginia Cheang, rejected the proceedings in a public letter. She described the prosecution as a political trial and called the persecution “groundless”. Cheang also questioned why the trial had been conducted privately while the verdict was made public, saying the case was intended to humiliate her husband and damage his character.
Au was arrested last year in what became the first public prosecution under Macao’s security law, which dates to 2009. Before entering politics, he worked as a teacher. He spent two decades serving in the legislature, which is dominated by Beijing, and resigned in 2021. He also helped arrange commemorations in Macao of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protest and massacre in Beijing.
Human Rights Watch deputy Asia director Maya Wang criticised the prison term, saying it sent a chilling message to people who peacefully criticise the authorities. She urged the European Union and Portugal to press for Au’s release. Both Macao’s government and China’s Hong Kong and Macao Affairs office expressed support for the sentence.
The verdict followed another national security sentence in Hong Kong a day earlier. Pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong, who has been imprisoned since 2020, received an additional 10-year prison term under Hong Kong’s national security law.
Macao was formerly a Portuguese colony. It became a special administrative region of China in 1999.
