'Trial' of Pro-Democracy ex-Senator Mr Au Kam San in First National Security Law Prosecution Last Only 2 Days

The ‘trial’ procedure which began against Mr Au Kam San 16 September 2026 finished just two days later on 18 September 2026 with the Macau Government website stating that a decision on conviction/sentencing would take place at a later date.

The procedure was held behind closed doors with the exclusion of the public and press preventing any scrutiny of the evidence or procedure in a case where the Macau authorities have been accused of breaching fair trial standards in a submission to the United Nation’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the UN Special Rapporteurs on Freedom of Expression, Assembly, and Belief.

Mr Au Kam San, 69, is a retired schoolteacher and former member of Macao’s Legislative Assembly. He served as a pro-democracy lawmaker for approximately two decades and was associated with the New Macao Association until retiring from politics in 2021. He later continued writing and teaching but was reportedly forced to leave teaching because of his pro-democracy beliefs. Mr Au was seized from his home along with a number of pro-democracy books on 30 July 2026 and kept in incommunicado detention for almost 1 year.

The ‘trial’ took place in circumstances whereby Mr Au was denied the right to an independent lawyer, is being prosecuted under the vague national security law provisions which fail the international standards in relation to certainty and specificity required to prevent national security provisions from being used a guise for governments to simply bring cases against those who they do not like for exercising their freedom of expression and association, and that the hearing is being held in private which prevents any scrutiny of the Macau Authorities ‘evidence’ and creates a scenario whereby they could present anything, or nothing at all to the Court and a conviction is inevitable.

On 11 September 2026, Justice Abroad submitted an official complaint to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, and Special Rapporteurs on Freedom of Expression, Freedom of Assembly, and Freedom of Belief which argues that the detention of Mr Au, before “trial” and following what appears to be an inevitable “conviction” is arbitrary and unlawful under a number of established bases set out by the Working Group for assessing the legality of detention.  

Michael Polak, Director of Justice Abroad and a barrister based in London who acts as Mr Au’s international counsel commented on the end of the ‘trial’ of Mr Au stated:  

"The fact that the 'trial' of Mr Au was completed in 2 days, in secret, without him being represented by independent Counsel underlines the farcical nature of the proceedings.  It is impossible for evidence to have been properly evaluated and a proper process to have been followed for such a serious offence as a breach of national security in such a short period of time.

We are confident that the United Nations bodies who are considering our complaint will hold that Macau and the PRC have acted unlawfully in the detention and subsequent inevitable 'conviction' of Mr Au.

We call on the European Union and the Portuguese Government to call for Mr Au’s release and return to his family.”