Macau’s former pro-democracy lawmaker Au Kam San was sentenced Friday (Nov. 6) to 12½ years in prison in a national security case that included a conviction for leaking confidential information about the casino hub’s gaming license renewals.
The 69-year-old was found guilty of subversion, two counts of establishing links with outside organizations to endanger national security, and breach of secrecy. It was Macau’s first publicly known prosecution under its national security law, introduced in 2009.
Au was arrested in July 2025 and tried behind closed doors in September. The court said the secrecy was necessary to protect national security and maintained that he had access to a court-appointed lawyer and could exercise his defense rights.
His wife, Virginia Cheang, described the proceedings as political persecution, while Human Rights Watch said the trial was marred by due-process violations.
Au, a former teacher, spent approximately two decades in Macau’s legislature before stepping down in 2021 and was regarded as one of the territory’s most prominent pro-democracy voices.
Leaked Information
According to a statement issued by Macau’s Court of First Instance, Au leaked information to organizations outside the territory in 2021 after attending a closed-door legislative committee meeting about the renewal of gaming concessions.
Au was then a member of the Legislative Assembly’s Follow-up Committee for Land and Public Concessions Affairs. The court did not say who received the information or reveal exactly what Au had shared.
Macau was undergoing a restructuring of its casino sector at the time. In 2022, authorities awarded new 10-year concessions to the existing six operators, including businesses affiliated with Las Vegas Sands, MGM Resorts, and Wynn Resorts. The agreements took effect in January 2023.
Election Interference Allegations
The more serious charges concerned Au’s alleged links to unidentified organizations outside Macau that the court described as hostile to the Chinese government.
Judges ruled that he helped gather and distribute false or distorted information between 2023 and 2024, seeking to encourage foreign hostility toward China and Macau, foster opposition to Beijing, and disrupt the territory’s 2024 leadership election.
Au was acquitted of two additional subversion charges because the court found insufficient evidence that the conduct met the required legal threshold.
He received an individual sentence of nine months for the secrecy offense and 11 years and three months for subversion. The judges combined those with penalties for the other convictions to impose a single 12½-year prison term.
Macau’s government defended the verdict, saying it would continue strictly enforcing national security legislation.
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