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High Court judge Judianna Barnes said in a written judgment that
Chow did appeal for the public to assemble at the Victoria Park
but it was not illegal, as the legality of the police ban was
“not established".
Chow, 37, was originally convicted by magistrate Amy Chan for
inciting others to take part in an unauthorised assembly and
sentenced to 15 months in jail in January.
She was at the time found guilty for publishing social media
posts and newspaper articles calling for mass participation in
the vigil last year.
Police banned the annual Tiananmen vigils last year, citing
coronavirus restrictions.
Chow was the former vice-chairperson of the now disbanded Hong
Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in
China. She told Reuters in November that the “communist state”
can incarcerate people, but it cannot lock up their thinking.
The Alliance, which organised the city's annual candlelight
vigils for the 1989 crackdown in and around Beijing's Tiananmen
Square, disbanded last September after the arrests of its key
leaders and executive members.
Although Barnes dropped Chow's unauthorised assembly charge, she
has nearly finished serving the original sentencing. She is
remanded in custody for two other national security charges.
She has pleaded not guilty to all the security charges,
including inciting subversion and failing to comply with a
police order to submit information about the group’s membership,
finances and activities.
The national security law, punishing subversion, collusion with
foreign forces and terrorism with up to life in prison, was
imposed by Beijing in 2020.
Hong Kong and Chinese governments said the law is necessary to
restore stability to Hong Kong after anti-government protests in
2019.
(Reporting by Jessie Pang; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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