Portugal condemns sentencing of Au Kam San in Macau to 12 and a half years imprisonment
The Foreign Ministry conveyed to Chinese authorities "repudiation and serious concern" after Au Kam San was sentenced to 12 years and 6 months for crimes against state security.
Portugal repudiates sentencing of Portuguese citizen in Macau
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MNE) formally conveyed to Chinese authorities a position of "repudiation and serious concern" after the Base Judicial Court (TJB) in Macau sentenced Portuguese citizen Au Kam San to a term of 12 years and six months imprisonment. The information was advanced by Portuguese diplomacy to Lusa and reported by noticiasaominuto.com.
The sentencing was handed down under the State Security Protection Law, in the first case brought since the creation of the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR). Au Kam San was found guilty of crimes against state security and breach of secrecy.
According to the court statement, the panel of judges concluded that Au Kam San collaborated for several years with foreign organisations, having helped to collect, prepare and disseminate content considered intended to incite hostility against the Central People's Government of China and to undermine the country's constitutional order.
The trial took place behind closed doors over just three days, so as not to cause "prejudice to state security interests". The sentence was, however, read in a public hearing. The justification of the prosecution's evidence was not disclosed. Only four news organisations were present at the hearing, which Lusa was unable to attend.
Au is being represented by a court-appointed lawyer approved by the Territory's State Security Protection Commission, whose identity is not public and who made no statement after sentencing. His international lawyer, Michael Polak, argued that Portugal should demand that Macau allow the former lawmaker and Portuguese citizen to leave the region.
It is not yet known whether either party will appeal the decision. In similar cases in the neighbouring territory of Hong Kong, appeals have resulted in sentences being increased.
The 1987 Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration, signed between Beijing and Lisbon, provides for the maintenance of the social system and fundamental freedoms of expression, assembly and association in Macau for a period of 50 years following the transfer of sovereignty, which occurred in 1999.
In September 2025, Prime Minister Luís Montenegro visited Macau and admitted not having discussed Au Kam San's detention in a meeting with the head of the local Government, Sam Hou Fai, arguing that the case required "the necessary discretion" and "some restraint". Montenegro and Sam Hou Fai met again in April last, in Lisbon, without anything being said publicly about the situation of the Portuguese citizen detained in the semi-autonomous territory. China does not recognise dual nationality.
Source: Google News PT — Crime (pt)