Au Kam San: Macau lawyers raise questions about lack of information

Deight Macau lawyers today told Lusa there are not enough public elements to allow a reasoned assessment of the conviction of former deputy pre-democracy and Portuguese citizen Au Kam San.

The Court of Justice (TJB) condemned today Au Kam San to a single sentence of 12 years and six months in prison for crimes against state security and breach of secrecy, in the first case instituted under the State Security Defense Act since the creation of the Macao Special Administrative Region (RAEM).

Lawyer Sérgio Almeida Correia, with decades of practice in Macau, expressed only “doubts” about the process, and so said he was not in a position to comment on the conviction because he considered insufficient information publicly known.

“ I just have doubts. I had them before,” Lusa said. “I have no comments to make, nor can I, because it is not wise to talk about what is not known,” he added.

Also the lawyer Luís Almeida Pinto commented to Lusa that the reserved nature of the case prevents a rigorous analysis of the judicial decision.

“ Having held the trial of Au Kam San behind closed doors, without possibility of knowing and evaluating the whole set of facts, testimonies and evidence that will have supported the public prosecution, and then also the conviction now disclosed, (...) I do not feel able to present and support any reasoned opinion on this judicial case ", said.

This causist added that it is only possible to resort “to the report made by government authorities”, considering it “manifestly insufficient to make any reasoned comments”.

According to Almeida Pinto, the lack of detailed information requires prudence, yet “weeping” that “the case has occurred in a peaceful, orderly and patriotic society like Macau”.

Sérgio Correia said he did not know “the accusation, the circumstances of time, place and motivation” associated with the process and stressed that he only knows “what was published in the press and the official press releases”.

For the lawyer, this information is “manifestly insufficient to make any reasoned comments”.

The lawyer also stated that he did not know “what evidence was produced or how the trial was prosecuted”, adding that “Neither the Macau Lawyers Association knows who was the defendant’s agent”.

In your opinion, central questions about the process remain unanswered. “What do the defendant or his lawyer think of this? Is the penalty fair? Will there be appeal by the prosecutor or the defendant?”, questioned.

It is not yet known whether any party will appeal the decision, but in similar cases in Hong Kong's neighbouring territory, the resources have resulted in aggravation of the sentence.

Almeida Correia also considered that the lack of information makes it difficult to understand the case by local society.

“ It is all too Kafkian in the eyes of the ordinary man, the ‘good father of the family’ respectful and law-abiding”, he said.

“ As a resident, I am still looking for legal-political support for the situation reached in the Joint Luso-Chinese Declaration of 1987”, he said.

“ Perhaps the Portuguese Minister and former Foreign Ministers can explain this, or the Prime Minister Luís Montenegro or the President of the Republic [English]”, said Almeida Correia.

For the lawyer, these Portuguese authorities should comment on the case, “not because of the defendant’s nationality”, but in order to clarify how the “rights, freedoms and guarantees provided in the Joint Declaration” of Macao residents are ensured.

Signed between Beijing and Lisbon, Joint Luso-Chinese Declaration 1987 provides for the maintenance of the social system and fundamental freedoms, expression, meeting and association of Macao for a period of 50 years after the transfer of sovereignty in 1999.

In September 2025, on a visit to Macau, Portuguese Prime Minister Louis Montenegro admitted that he did not discuss the arrest of Au Kam San at a meeting with Sam Hou Fai and argued that the case requires “the necessary discretion” and “some rectum”.

Montenegro and Sam Hou Fai met again last April in Lisbon, but nothing was said publicly about the arrest of the Portuguese citizen. China and Macao do not recognize dual nationality.

Au Kam San’s international lawyer, Michael Polak, went further today and maintained that Portugal should demand that Macau allow the former deputy and Portuguese citizen to leave the region.

The lawyer hired by the family of Au Kam San also argued that the former 69-year-old deputy was detained “almost 12 months” without being able to talk to the family, with the lack of “right to an independent lawyer” and the closed-door trial prevented “any scrutiny” and made “the inevitable condemnation”.

Au is being represented by an unofficial lawyer, approved by the State Security Defence Commission of the territory, whose identity is not known and who has not made statements after the judgment given today.

Unlike the trial – which took place, over only three days, behind closed doors, not to cause “harm to the interests of state security” – the sentence was read today in an open-door session. The grounds for the prosecution's evidence were not publicly disclosed.

Only four media outlets, second official source, were present at the TJB session, to which Lusa could not attend.

According to the Court's statement, the collective of judges concluded that Au Kam San collaborated for several years with foreign organizations, helping to collect, prepare and disseminate content that the court considered intended to incite hostility against the Central People's Government of China and to call into question the constitutional order of the country.