Cardinal Zen – screen grab
In May TGP reported on the arrest of 90-year-old Cardinal Zen for assisting with pro-democracy protesters in the tiny country. This week the Cardinal was found guilty of related crimes.
In May TGP reported that courageous Cardinal Zen in Hong Kong was arrested for helping the pro-democracy movement there.
This past week Cardinal Zen was convicted of his crime of helping out pro-democracy protesters.
This is how communists take over. Before you know it, the freest country in the world is arresting those who protest in support of democracy.
Breitbart reports:
On Friday, Zen appeared before Principal Magistrate Ada Yip at West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts together with four other trustees of the now-defunct relief fund, namely prominent lawyer Margaret Ng, ex-legislator Cyd Ho, scholar Hui Po-keung, and singer-activist Denise Ho. The secretary of the fund, Sze Ching-wee, was also tried and found guilty.
Yim ruled that all six defendants could be regarded as “office-bearers” of the fund, which carried “political aims,” and therefore were liable for not registering the trust as a society.
The six defendants were fined between HK$2,500 and HK$4,000 each.
The very public prosecution of the Catholic cardinal forms part of an ongoing crackdown on dissent in the city.
Vatican News clarifies what happened to the Cardinal this week.
Cardinal Zen and the five other defendants pleaded not guilty, but have not testified or called witnesses.
Further investigation into charges of collusion with foreign forces still looms, with penalties such as life imprisonment under the National Security Law passed in June 2020 after protests four years ago.
The same law requires any organization to register with the police at least a month before it is established; however, groups formed “exclusively for religious, charitable, social or recreational purposes” may be exempt from this requirement.
According to prosecutors, the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund had to be registered as an organization that is political in nature, founded and run by multiple people.
Pope Francis was unable to criticize China for its role in this case.