HONG KONG-CHINA Hong Kong, the preliminary stage has ended and Cardinal Zen has been sent to trial

The date of October 26 was set for the continuation of the trial. Along with him, five well-known representatives of the democratic front will be prosecuted. According to the defense, some evidence presented by the prosecution would be “irrelevant.” Expressions of support for the bishop emeritus of the city from various sectors of the Catholic world.

Hong Kong () – Second and last day of the preliminary process for Card. Joseph Zen Ze-kiun and five well-known members of the democratic front. Judge Ada Yim Shun-yee of the West Kowloon court considered that there are enough elements for the accusation and set the date of October 26 for the beginning of the trial.

The city prosecutor’s office accuses the defendants of failing to properly register a humanitarian fund of which they were trustees. The defense objected to the evidence obtained by the prosecutor under the draconian national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020 to attack the pro-democracy front, considering it “irrelevant” to the case.

On May 11, police arrested the city’s bishop emeritus and the other defendants on the more serious charge of “collusion” with foreign forces, which falls under the security measure. Eliminated that accusation, the defendants could receive a maximum fine of 1,750 dollars.

Along with the 90-year-old cardinal, renowned lawyer Margaret Ng, singer and activist Denise Ho, former city deputy Cyd Ho, academician Hui Po-keung and activist Sze Ching-wee will take to the dock. Cyd Ho is already in jail for participating in an unauthorized demonstration. Several leading Democrats are in prison on the same charge, including Catholic media mogul Jimmy Lai.

Until it was closed in October last year, the 612 Fund helped thousands of pro-democracy protesters involved in the 2019 protests. The defendants pleaded not guilty: their defenders consider that the charity was not required to register under the Companies Ordinance. The defense also asks that the interpretation of the ordinance take into account the right of citizens to associate enshrined in the local mini-constitution (Basic Law), an aspect in which the level of real freedom that still exists will be reflected. in the former British colony.

Meanwhile, after Cardinal Fernando Filoni, prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and current Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem, expressions of support for the prosecuted cardinal continue to arrive from different sectors of the Catholic world. Yesterday on Twitter they expressed solidarity with Cardinal Zen, Salvatore Cordileone, Archbishop of San Francisco, and Msgr. Athanasius Schneider, Auxiliary Bishop of Astana (Kazakhstan).