Cardinal Zen, 93, and five co-trustees appeal 2022 conviction for failing to register 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund that aided 2019 protesters. Verdict due in nine months.
Newsroom (08/12/2025 Gaudium Press ) A three-judge panel at the Hong Kong Court of Appeal has reserved judgment in the appeal brought by Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun and five fellow trustees of the now-defunct 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, promising a written verdict within the next nine months after concluding a two-day hearing on Dec. 3-4.
The 93-year-old retired Catholic bishop of Hong Kong arrived at court wearing a white disposable face mask and leaning on a walking stick, accompanied by co-appellants: veteran barrister Margaret Ng Ngoi-yee, Cantopop singer and activist Denise Ho Wan-see, former legislator Cyd Ho Sau-lan, and cultural studies scholar Hui Po-keung.
All five, together with fund secretary Sze Ching-wee, were convicted in November 2022 of failing to register the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund as a society under Hong Kong’s Societies Ordinance between July 2019 and October 2021, or to seek an exemption. Magistrate Ada Yim Shun-yee fined each trustee HK$4,000 (approximately US$512) and Sze HK$2,500 (US$320). Sze did not appeal.
Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Anthony Chau Tin-hang argued before the appeal bench that the fund had solicited public donations and met the statutory definition of a “society,” regardless of lacking formal articles or rules.
Counsel for Denise Ho, Lam Kwok-fai, countered that his client had reasonably believed the fund, structured as a trust, was exempt from registration requirements.
The 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund was established in June 2019 at the height of mass protests against a proposed extradition bill that would have allowed suspects to be transferred to mainland China for trial. The fund’s stated mission was to provide humanitarian aid to “all persons who are arrested (regardless of charges), injured or affected” during the demonstrations. It ceased operations in October 2021.
Although the extradition bill was formally withdrawn in October 2019, Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on Hong Kong in June 2020, leading to the arrest or exile of numerous pro-democracy figures. Observers have expressed concern that outspoken religious leaders, including Cardinal Zen, could face similar pressure.
Zen, who stepped down as bishop in 2009 but remained an outspoken advocate for democracy and human rights, was arrested on May 11, 2022, initially on suspicion of “collusion with foreign forces” under the national security law. Charges related to national security were later dropped, leaving only the registration offense.
Despite the conviction, authorities twice granted the cardinal permission to travel: for two days in January 2023 to attend the funeral of Pope Benedict XVI, and for ten days in April 2025 to attend the funeral of Pope Francis.
The Hong Kong Democracy Council, a U.S.-based nonprofit supporting the territory’s pro-democracy movement, described the two-day appeal hearing in a Dec. 3 social media post as centering on “intricate legal issues” of whether the 612 fund constituted a society or a trust, while insisting the prosecution amounted to “political persecution” of Cardinal Zen and his co-defendants.
No date has been set for the delivery of the reserved judgment.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from The Pillar
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