First case since national security law’s enactment in 2009
The Macau Judiciary Police (PJ) announced yesterday that they had arrested a 68-year-old local man surnamed Au on Wednesday for allegedly violating the local Law on Safeguarding National Security.
The case was announced in a PJ statement at around midday yesterday, according to which PJ officers arrested Au at his home on Wednesday afternoon.
The statement merely identified the local male suspect by his age and surname. Public broadcaster TDM yesterday identified the suspect as former lawmaker Au Kam San, who did not seek re-election in the direct legislative election four years ago. He had been a member of the Legislative Assembly (AL) since 2001.
It is the first time that the local police announced the arrest of anyone for allegedly violating the local national security law, which was enacted in 2009 based on the Article 23 requirement of the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) Basic Law and was amended in 2023.
The Judiciary Police are the law enforcement agency in Macau tasked with investigating suspected criminal cases of endangering national security and collecting intelligence related to any forces endangering national security.
Yesterday’s PJ statement said that a local resident was discovered to have allegedly conspired with an anti-China organisation outside the MSAR since 2022, providing the organisation with a substantial amount of untrue and inflammatory information for public display on the internet and in physical locations outside the MSAR.
The statement said that after the amended version of the Law on Safeguarding National Security took effect in 2023, the resident agreed that the organisation continue publicising such information.
Moreover, the statement said, the resident was also discovered to have allegedly maintained long-term contacts with several anti-China entities outside the MSAR, repeatedly providing them or media outlets operated by them with untrue information about Macau for dissemination purposes, with the aim of inciting hatred, among Macau residents and even among people from various countries unfamiliar with the truth, towards the central government and the MSAR government, disrupting Macau’s chief executive election in 2024, and causing certain foreign countries to take hostile actions against Macau.
The statement said that after their investigation and evidence-gathering for a long time, the Judiciary Police recently identified a 68-year-old local man surnamed Au as the suspect in the case, after which PJ officers went to his home on Wednesday afternoon to arrest him and take him to the PJ headquarters for questioning and further investigation.
The statement said that according to the findings of the PJ investigation, there were strong indications that Au had colluded with hostile forces outside the MSAR for a long time and, by assisting others in collecting or publicly disseminating false and grossly distorted information, had engaged in acts inciting hatred towards the Central People’s Government, facilitating anti-China forces in taking hostile actions against the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the MSAR, and disrupting elections in the MSAR, thereby seriously endangering national security, the statement said.
The statement said that the Judiciary Police yesterday transferred Au to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) for further investigation into alleged crimes listed in Article 13 of the amended version of the Law on Safeguarding National Security, namely establishing ties with organisations, bodies, or individuals outside the MSAR for engaging in acts endangering national security.
According to Article 13, Au faces between three and 10 years behind bars.
Meanwhile, the Public Prosecutions Office issued a statement late last night regarding Au’s case, saying that he has been remanded in custody.
The MP said that “the examining magistrate, as suggested by the Public Prosecutions Office, has decided to remand the suspect in custody”.
This file photo shows then lawmaker Au Kam San addressing a forum in a privately run community facility in late 2016. – Photo: Tony Wong
