Hong Kong court upholds convictions of Cardinal Joseph Zen, trustees of 2019 protester relief fund

A Hong Kong court has maintained the convictions of Cardinal Joseph Zen and four others for failing to properly register their disbanded fund that assisted protesters during the 2019 protests. The Court of Appeal dismissed their appeal against the November 2022 conviction, which had fined them HK$4,000 each for not registering the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund as a society under the Societies Ordinance.

The five pro-democracy figures argued that the fund was established as a trust, not a society. The Court of Final Appeal, however, ruled that the 612 fund was indeed a society and that the trustees had conducted it as such, following an agreed-upon trust deed. The judges emphasized that the fund was more than "a mere sum of moneys held by the appellants on trust."

The five plan to appeal the ruling to the apex Court of Final Appeal, emphasizing that the case is not only about the specific fund but also about the broader implications of the Societies Ordinance on Hong Kong civil society.