Chow Hang-tung paused mid-testimony, her voice breaking as she recalled the final days of Chinese dissident and Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, lowering her head and struggling to continue. “Before he died… he was only allowed to see his family at the very end,” she said, wiping away tears as the courtroom fell silent.
The emotional moment unfolded on Monday (23 March 2026) as Chow, former vice-chair of the now-defunct Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, continued giving evidence in her national security trial.
Chow, alongside veteran labour activist Lee Cheuk-yan and the Alliance, is charged with “inciting subversion” under Hong Kong’s Beijing-imposed national security law, an offence carrying a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
Her testimony centred on the Alliance’s long-standing support for Charter 08, a manifesto calling for constitutional reform and democratic development in China, a position she said directly contradicts the prosecution’s claim that the group sought to overthrow the government by unlawful means.
Chow told the court that the Alliance had actively campaigned for the release of Liu Xiaobo, a key figure behind Charter 08, and had once hoped to welcome him upon completing his prison term. Those hopes were cut short in 2017, when Liu, still in custody, was diagnosed with a serious illness and died shortly thereafter.
Composing herself after a brief pause, during which the judge offered her a break and court staff handed her tissues, Chow continued, noting that Liu died in detention on July 13, 2017, and that “in the end, not even his ashes were left behind.”
She said the Alliance responded with a series of public actions, including candlelight marches, memorial gatherings, and a joint petition with 42 international organisations calling for an investigation into Liu’s death, the release of his widow Liu Xia, and the freeing of individuals detained for mourning him.
While acknowledging that it was impossible to determine whether such efforts directly influenced authorities, Chow argued they were not in vain. “Concern and solidarity are not meaningless,” she said. “They can make a difference to those who suffer persecution.”
For decades, the Alliance organised annual candlelight vigils in Victoria Park to commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, when Chinese troops suppressed pro-democracy protests in Beijing, killing thousands.
Chow maintained that the group’s advocacy, including its continued support for Charter 08 up until her arrest, was rooted in calls for reform and human rights, not subversion.
The case forms part of a wider crackdown on dissent in Hong Kong following the enactment of the national security law in 2020, under which activists, civil society groups and media organisations have faced increasing legal pressure.