Hong Kong’s appeals court on Thursday dismissed an appeal by Cardinal Joseph Zen against his 2022 conviction in relation to his role as a trustee of a relief fund.
The three judges on the appeals court upheld the lower court’s ruling that the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund was legally considered a “society” and should have been registered as such.
Zen and the four other former trustees of the fund announced at a press conference after the ruling that they intend to appeal the case to the Court of Final Appeal.
In addition to Cardinal Zen, the 94-year-old former Bishop of Hong Kong, the appellants in the case are barrister Margaret Ng, Cantopop star Denise Ho, former lawmaker Cyd Ho, and cultural studies scholar Hui Po-keung, who also served as trustees of the now-defunct fund helping pro-democracy protesters.
They were found guilty in November 2022 and fined 4,000 Hong Kong dollars (roughly $512) each at the end of a trial that began in September 2022.
They were convicted for failing to register the fund as a society under Hong Kong’s Societies Ordinance between July 16, 2019, and Oct. 31, 2021, or to obtain an exemption.
A sixth person, the fund’s secretary Sze Ching-wee, was convicted separately and fined $2,500 Hong Kong dollars (around $320). He did not appeal the conviction.
Anthony Chau Tin-hang, the deputy director of public prosecutions, told the appeals court that the fund “solicited public donations” and its activities aligned it with the statutory definition of a society, even though it didn’t have formal articles or rules.
Lam Kwok-fai, the counsel for Denise Ho, said that Ho had believed the fund was not required to register under the ordinance. The defense argued that the trust was not run like a company.
In their appeal, which was heard last December, the trustees had asked the court for clarity on what constituted a “society” under the law. They argued that requiring the registration of every group of individuals who come together for a common purpose would have a chilling effect on freedom of association.
In a December 2026 social media post, the Hong Kong Democracy Council, a nonprofit supporting the territory’s democracy movement, said the hearing focused on “intricate legal issues” concerning whether the fund should be classified as a fund or a trust. But it argued that “the main issue is Cardinal Zen & co are being politically persecuted.”
The 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund was founded in June 2019 to provide “humanitarian support to all persons who are arrested (regardless of charges), injured or affected” during mass protests against a bill allowing political detainees to be deported to mainland China to face trial. The fund closed in October 2021.
Although the extradition bill was withdrawn, Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on Hong Kong in June 2020 that restricted civil liberties.
Prominent pro-democracy figures, including Catholic businessman Jimmy Lai, were detained, raising fears that outspoken religious leaders such as Cardinal Zen might also be targeted.
Although Zen retired as Bishop of Hong Kong in 2009 at the age of 77, he continued to speak out for democracy and human rights in the former British colony, which became a special administrative region of China in 1997.
When he was arrested on May 11, 2022, the cardinal was originally held on national security grounds, including alleged collusion with foreign agents. But he was ultimately charged only with failing to register the humanitarian fund through the proper channels.
Following his conviction in November 2022, the authorities permitted Zen to leave Hong Kong for two days to attend the funeral of Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican on Jan. 5, 2023.
He was allowed to leave for 10 days to attend the funeral of Pope Francis on April 26, 2025.