Sourced fact
The News
Macau authorities have sentenced Au Kam San, a former Legislative Assembly member and democracy activist, to 12 years and six months in prison in the city's first national security case. He was convicted on Friday of toppling the state's political power among other charges after a three-day trial held behind closed doors.
The prosecution accuses the defendant of communicating with hostile external organizations and gathering and disseminating information with a subversive nature against the state. Au was arrested in July 2025 and found guilty on four out of seven charges brought against him. Prosecutors indicate that these activities persisted over a long period, while local authorities have not yet revealed details of the case to the public.
Au's wife, Chiang Qing, stated that the verdict represents baseless persecution aimed at humiliating Au, expressing her hope that her family will be allowed to visit him and write letters to him regularly. In an open letter, she added that she dares not ask for more out of fear of greater disappointment, noting that her husband was not permitted to appoint a private lawyer but was instead assigned one by the court.
This verdict comes one day after his colleague Joshua Wong in Hong Kong was sentenced to 10 years in prison, the activist who led a democracy movement recently declared dissolved. Au was one of the few who supported democratic causes in the Legislative Assembly, which has been dominated by Beijing loyalists since his election in 2001.
It is also noted that the national security law enacted in Macau in 2009 has been amended several times, most recently this year to allow closed trials to protect national security interests. The defendant previously organized annual memorial services in Macau to commemorate Tiananmen Square events, which received relative tolerance before strict security laws were imposed in Hong Kong and Macau.
Analysis & context
Analysis & Context
From an analytical perspective, this verdict represents a major legal and political precedent for Macau as the first case brought under the national security law in the city since its return to China in 1999. The original law, which came into effect in 2009, has been amended several times, including an expansion of its scope in 2023 to cover acts of non-violent secession, and this year's amendment allowed for fully closed trials.
In the broader context, Au Kam San was one of the few democratic-supporting legislators who served a 20-year term in the Legislative Assembly amidst Beijing loyalist dominance. He annually organized memorial services for the 1989 Tiananmen Uprising, a practice that was previously tolerated in Macau and Hong Kong before being effectively banned after the national security law was imposed on Hong Kong in 2020.
This verdict arrives amid a tense context of political repression in the region, where a 10-year prison sentence was handed down to Joshua Wong and his dissolved Hong Kong democracy movement just one day prior to Macau's verdict. This timing suggests possible coordination or similarity in approach between Hong Kong and Macau authorities in dealing with opposition activists.
This situation highlights the radical transformation of the governance environment in China's special administrative regions, where they are shifting from areas with a relatively democratic character to environments governed by strict security laws that allow for investigation and trial away from public scrutiny.
