Cardinal Zen on trial over fund defending protesters

Cardinal Joseph Zen has gone on trial alongside five fellow democracy supporters over their role in running a fund to help defend people arrested in antigovernment protests.

The 90-year-old, one of Asia’s most senior Catholic clerics, was first detained earlier this year under a national security law that Beijing imposed to quell dissent. His arrest shocked the city’s Catholic community and renewed criticism of the Vatican’s warming ties with Beijing. Police have not yet charged Zen with a national security offence, which can carry a sentence of up to life in jail. Instead, he and his fellow defendants are being prosecuted for the less serious offence of failing to properly register their defence fund as a society.