Macau slams foreign criticism over national security trial
Macau government and legislature condemned EU, US and UN bodies for criticising the city's first national security case trial, calling it internal affairs and rejecting interference.
Macau’s government and legislature have strongly condemned what they described as “untrue statements” by the European Union’s External Action Service, the US Congressional-Executive Commission on China, the United Nations human rights office and individual European Parliament members over the city’s first national security case trial.
The Macau government said in a statement that the defendant, Ou Kam San, is a Chinese citizen, and the court’s handling of his case – in which he was convicted of endangering national security – is purely an internal affair of the Macau Special Administrative Region. The court made its verdict and sentencing strictly in accordance with legal provisions and factual evidence, the government said, rejecting what it called unwarranted interference and groundless accusations. It added that no organisation or individual may use “human rights” or “freedom” as a shield to engage in illegal activities that harm national security.
The territory’s legislature also issued a statement saying the trial process fully protected Ou Kam San’s procedural rights as a suspect. It said any attack on or pressure against Macau’s judiciary for carrying out a lawful trial represents a serious violation of the rule of law. The legislature called on outside parties to respect the verdict and firmly opposed all unfounded criticism, slander and intervention in Macau’s judicial process.
The case is the first national security trial since Macau’s national security law was enacted. The government urged external forces to stop making what it called baseless accusations and to respect Macau’s legal system.