Macau Sentences Former Lawmaker Au Kam San to 12 Years in First National Security Trial

A court in Macau has sentenced former pro-democracy lawmaker Au Kam San to twelve years and six months in prison following the territory’s first trial conducted under national security legislation. The 69-year-old former legislator was convicted on Friday of subversion against state power and collaborating with foreign entities, according to court documents. The judicial proceedings were conducted behind closed doors over three days in September.

Prosecutors charged Au with seven offences, including three counts of subverting state power, three counts of endangering national security through contacts with foreign organisations, and one count of breaching confidentiality. The court found him guilty on four of the seven charges. Authorities alleged that over an extended period, Au collaborated with foreign organisations by collecting, preparing, and distributing information containing subversive political claims against the Chinese state.

Au was taken into custody in July 2025. Following his arrest, the court denied his request to select his own legal representation and assigned him a public defence lawyer. The judge ordered the public excluded from the courtroom, citing the need to prevent prejudice to national security interests. Macau's authorities did not release specific evidence presented during the proceedings.

The legal framework governing national security in Macau was established in 2009, criminalising treason, secession, and subversion against the Chinese government, ten years after Portugal returned the territory to Chinese sovereignty in 1999. Local authorities revised the legislation in 2023 to encompass non-violent acts of secession, followed by a subsequent amendment that permitted national security trials to take place behind closed doors.

Au worked as a primary school teacher before winning election to Macau’s Legislative Assembly in September 2001, where he served for twenty years as one of the few pro-democracy figures in a legislature dominated by pro-Beijing members. During his tenure, he co-organised annual candlelight vigils commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, public gatherings that authorities have effectively prohibited in recent years.

In an open letter released on Friday, Au’s wife, Virginia Cheang, characterized the prosecution as groundless persecution intended to humiliate her husband. She stated that her primary request to the authorities was to receive permission for regular family visits and written correspondence with Au during his imprisonment.

The verdict in Macau follows the sentencing of pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong in neighbouring Hong Kong one day earlier, where Wong received a ten-year prison term under Hong Kong’s national security framework. Wong, aged 30, had been held in custody for six years prior to his sentencing.

Written by Christiane Hofreiter christiane.hofreiter@alpineweekly.com