Preventive detention for former Macau deputy for acts against the State

Former Macau pro-democracy lawmaker Au Kam San, allegedly suspected of violating the law on the defense of state security, was remanded in custody, the territory's Public Prosecutor's Office said.

Au's detention is the first under the Macao Special Administrative Region's (SAR) national security law, which came into force in 2009 and was revised in 2023.

"The police handed over to the Public Prosecutor's Office an individual from Macau who allegedly colluded with anti-China external forces, who, following the preliminary investigation, is being held in preventive detention on suspicion of violating the Law on the Defense of State Security," read a statement issued Thursday night.

The coercive measure, the MP continued in the note, was applied by the Criminal Investigation Court due to “ strong evidence of the practice of the crime of establishing links with organizations , associations or individuals from outside” Macau “to commit acts against State security”.

The statement does not mention the name of the deputy, similar to what happened on Thursday, when the Judicial Police reported the arrest of the historic pro-democracy figure, who, for twenty years, occupied a seat in the Legislative Assembly (AL, parliament).

Without mentioning the former deputy's full name, the PJ declared, in a statement, that a Macau resident surnamed Au, aged 68, was detained on "suspicion of violating the law on the defense of state security" and for having acted in "collusion, since 2022, with a foreign anti-China organization."

A source told Lusa that the suspect was former congressman Au Kam San, also 68. Teledifusão de Macau also wrote that, "from what it was possible to determine, the suspect is former congressman Au Kam San."

Lusa contacted the Judiciary Police (PJ) on Thursday morning to learn more about the arrest, but has not yet received a response. That same day, at its daily press conference, the investigative body stated that it had no further information.

Au, according to the PJ statement, is suspected of providing an "anti-China organization" with a "large amount of false information of a provocative nature, for public display abroad and online on social media."

“The individual has maintained contacts, for a long period, with several anti-China entities located outside the MSAR [Macau Special Administrative Region], and has repeatedly provided false information about Macau to these entities or to the media outlets operated by these entities,” the PJ added.

The suspect's objectives were to incite "hatred among Macau residents and even among people from various countries who are unaware of the truth" towards the central government and the Macau government, "disrupting the 2024 Macau chief executive election and leading foreign countries to take action against" the semi-autonomous Chinese region.

In the statement released on Thursday night, the Public Prosecutor's Office also said that it will "rigorously execute the tasks defined by the Law on the Defense of State Security, in order to strive to determine the responsibilities of those who attempt to disrupt national security, combating with all efforts the forces hostile to the State."

It also reads that, "as the responsibility and duty to defend national security must be assumed by every Chinese people, including residents of Macau, the Public Prosecutor's Office calls on citizens" not to commit "any acts against state security, and should jointly build a solid barrier to defend national security."

According to the law on the defense of state security, "in the event of committing the aforementioned crime, the defendant must be subject to preventive detention, with no suspension of the execution of the sentence provided he is convicted," he concluded.

Together with fellow historic former parliamentarian Ng Kuok Cheong, Au Kam San has organized a vigil for more than three decades — banned this Thursday — in honor of the victims of the anti-government protests of June 4, 1989 in Beijing, in Tiananmen Square.