Macau Convicts Former Lawmaker Au Kam San in First National Security Case

A former pro-democracy lawmaker in Macau has been sentenced under the national security law, the first such case in the territory. 69-year-old Ng Kuok Cham was found guilty of subversion of state power. He has been sentenced to 12 and a half years in prison after being held for one year in Kamikado. Prosecutors say Al had been colluding with foreign forces and arrested him last July. He was represented by a government-appointed lawyer in a closed-door trial this September. To learn more about Ng Kuok Cham's case, our reporter Ivan Lin spoke with Michael Polak, Director of Justice Abroad and AUS International Council. So Michael, what exactly were the allegations against Mr. Ng Kuok Cham? It's very difficult to know. What the what the authorities are actually accusing him of, because when you look at their statement they released in relation to the conviction, it doesn't really give much details that there's speaking with anti-China forces outside of Macau is one of the potential accusations under the national security law, but it doesn't give any details at all. The problem with the use of national security laws in this way is that it gives the government the power to persecute people it doesn't like. We think the reason they've gone after Mr. Ng, who's an elderly man, absolutely no risk to Macau at all, is because he spoke up for democracy and also he had a good relationship with different bodies such as the EU's Office for Hong Kong and Macau, he would meet with them regularly. For national security cases, do Hong Kong authorities have the same prosecutorial powers and procedures as in Macau? Macau authorities brought in the law, and then each year they've been making it more and more draconian, until at this time they can have trials in secret, and they can have trials where the defendant doesn't have an independent lawyer. The difference between Hong Kong and Macau is that Hong Kong had a legal system which was respected across Asia, it was respected across the world, whereas Macau doesn't even They don't even have the vestige of it, so they don't have something. So what you're seeing in Macau is the raw application of force against people who practice rights that we do every day. Now this is the first known conviction under the national security law in Macau. What does this mean for civil rights in Macau moving forward? I think the fact that they've used this law to persecute someone who hasn't done anything wrong, anything that can be properly described as a criminal offense, and who pose no danger to Macau at all, just shows how they intend to apply the national security law in Macau. Often businesses do look at things like that when they decide where they can base their operations. Whether it's safe for foreigners to go and work there, so does immense damage to Macau. So it must be, I think, a decision which has been imposed on or pushed from Beijing. That was Michael Polak, Director of Justice Abroad.