Ninety-year-old retired Catholic Cardinal Joseph Zen (陳日君) yesterday appeared in a Hong Kong court charged with failing to properly register a protest defense fund, after he was initially arrested under the territory’s National Security Law.
Zen, one of the highest-ranking Catholic clerics in Asia, was among five prominent democracy advocates including singer Denise Ho (何韻詩) and veteran human rights barrister Margaret Ng (吳靄儀) who were detained earlier this month.
The group acted as trustees of a now-defunct fund that helped pay legal and medical costs for those arrested during huge and sometimes violent democracy protests three years ago.