A Macau court sentenced former lawmaker Au Kam San to 12 years and six months in prison on November 6, 2026, in the territory’s first state-security case. The court convicted him on several charges, including subversion against the political power of the State, but acquitted him of two other subversion charges.
The sentence combined penalties for the convictions, which also involved links with external organizations or individuals to carry out acts against state security and a breach of secrecy. The court statement said hearings took place on September 16 and 18 and that the trial was held behind closed doors.
Prosecutors accused Au of supplying information to organizations outside Macau that they said was intended to stir hostility toward the city’s government and Beijing. The court said he had assisted external groups in collecting, preparing and publicly distributing material it characterized as subversive, and had sought to incite opposition to China’s central government.
Au, 69, was detained in July 2025. His prosecution was the first publicly known case under Macau’s national security law, enacted in 2009, according to DW.
The closed trial drew criticism over fairness. A judge rejected an open hearing on national security grounds, while the European Union condemned Au’s arrest in 2025, saying it added to concerns about the erosion of political pluralism in Macau.
Au served in Macau’s legislature for two decades and left in 2021. He also co-organized vigils commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. Macau, a former Portuguese colony, returned to Chinese rule in 1999 and is a special administrative region.
Nicole French