Macao Court Sentences Ex-Lawmaker Au Kam San to 12½ Years in Landmark National Security Case

Macao’s Court of First Instance has sentenced former pro-democracy lawmaker Au Kam San to 12 years and 6 months in prison in the first publicly known trial under the city’s national security law, in a case that has drawn criticism from rights groups and diplomatic concern from Portugal and the European Union.

The court said in a communiqué published on the Macao government portal that it imposed a single consolidated sentence on Nov. 6 after convicting Au, 69, of one count of subversion of state power, multiple counts of establishing links with organizations, associations or individuals outside Macao to carry out activities endangering national security, and one count of violation of secrecy under Macao’s Penal Code. It acquitted him on two additional subversion counts. According to the court’s summary, Au had for a long period cooperated with overseas groups to gather, prepare and publicly disseminate material it described as subversive and false or distorted, with the aim of inciting hatred against China’s central government and disrupting Macao’s 2024 chief executive election.

The case is significant not only because of the sentence but because the court explicitly described it as Macao’s first national-security case since the Chinese special administrative region enacted its Safeguarding National Security Law in 2009. The substantive hearings were held behind closed doors on Sept. 16 and 18 on national-security grounds. The court later read out the verdict publicly, but released only a summary rather than the full written judgment, limiting public scrutiny of its reasoning.

A dispute has also emerged over Au’s legal access and detention conditions. Au was arrested by Macao judicial police on July 30, 2025, and has been detained since then. The court said he did not hire a private lawyer, accepted a court-appointed defense lawyer and was allowed family visits “regularly.” But Au’s family and his international counsel, Michael Polak of Justice Abroad, have said he was held incommunicado for long periods and denied meaningful access to a lawyer chosen by his family. Polak told Reuters that “Mr Au has been convicted after a sham trial which brings shame upon Macao and will affect how the territory is viewed globally from a rule-of-law perspective.”

The court also said Au, while serving as a lawmaker in 2021, disclosed confidential information from a closed legislative committee meeting on casino license renewals. Au served as a directly elected member of Macao’s Legislative Assembly from 2001 to 2021 and was one of the territory’s best-known opposition figures, part of a small pro-democracy camp in the gambling hub.

Macao, a former Portuguese colony handed over to China in 1999, is governed under the “one country, two systems” framework that also applies in Hong Kong. Its national security law was enacted in 2009 and amended in 2023, with critics saying the changes broadened the law’s reach and made it easier to use against nonviolent political activity. The case comes amid tighter national-security enforcement in Chinese territories, but public prosecutions under Macao’s law have been rare.

The conviction also prompted diplomatic reaction beyond Macao. Portuguese media, citing the foreign ministry, reported that Lisbon conveyed “repudiation and serious concern” to Chinese authorities over the conviction of a Portuguese citizen. The EU was also reported to have deplored the conviction. Macao authorities and Beijing’s Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office backed the ruling and said national security must be protected. The case now stands as the clearest public test yet of how Macao’s national security law is being applied.