Elderly woman to stand trial under nat. security legislation despite psychosis diagnosis

A 61-year-old woman will go to trial over allegedly displaying seditious publications from her flat, despite being diagnosed with psychosis and delusional disorder after a Hong Kong court requested that she undergo a psychological evaluation earlier this month.

West Kowloon Law Courts Building. File photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.

Yang Chau-kei, 61, pleaded not guilty at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts on Monday, less than a month after Chief Magistrate Victor So ordered the prosecution to obtain psychiatric reports on her mental state.

The elderly woman stands accused of displaying seditious materials outside her flat in Tin Shui Wai – an offence under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, Hong Kong’s homegrown security legislation known colloquially as Article 23.

Yang appeared in court unrepresented. The case will go to trial on October 14, and is projected to last three days.

‘I have committed no crime’

On Tuesday, Chief Magistrate So noted the psychiatric reports, which the prosecution said indicated that Yang was fit to enter a plea. After telling the court she understood the charge, Yang said in Cantonese: “Your Honour, I have committed no crime – they are framing me.”

The magistrate then said the defendant pleaded not guilty, and the prosecution said that two civilian witnesses and two police witnesses will testify at trial.

A billboard for the national security law in Hong Kong. File photo: Tom Grundy/HKFP.

Yang’s bail application was refused and she remains in custody pending trial.

Yang stands accused of putting up materials with a seditious intention outside her Tin Chung Court apartment – including on her apartment door, on the living room window, and in the building corridor – between March and November 2024.

In doing so, she intended to stir up hatred against Hong Kong authorities and “the fundamental system of the state established by the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China,” a charge sheet prepared by the prosecution stated.

Separate from the 2020 Beijing-enacted security law, Article 23 targets treason, insurrection, sabotage, external interference, sedition, theft of state secrets, and espionage.

It allows for pre-charge detention of up to 16 days, and suspects’ access to lawyers may be restricted, with penalties involving up to life in prison.

Yang faces up to seven years’ imprisonment under the local security law, if convicted.