Macau Court Jails Portuguese Citizen Au Kam San for 12 and a Half Years in Its First State Security Trial

A court in Macau has sentenced Au Kam San, a former pro-democracy member of the territory's legislature and a Portuguese citizen, to 12 years and six months in prison for crimes against state security and breach of secrecy. It is the first case tried under Macau's State Security Law since China took over the territory from Portugal in 1999, and his lawyer is now calling on Lisbon to demand that he be allowed to leave.

The verdict was read on the morning of 6 November (02:00 in Lisbon) at the Tribunal Judicial de Base, Macau's court of first instance, according to the court's own statement. The trial itself was held behind closed doors in September.

What the court found

The three judges convicted Au of one count of subversion against the political power of the State, under Law 2/2009 as revised in 2023, and gave him 11 years and three months for it. They added three years and nine months for each of two counts of establishing links with organisations outside Macau to act against state security, and nine months for breach of secrecy. The court said that in 2021, as a legislator, he passed to outside organisations confidential details of a closed-door committee meeting on the renewal of Macau's casino licences.

The judges found that Au had for years helped "hostile organisations abroad" gather and publish information they called false and distorted to stir up hatred of China's central government. They acquitted him of two further subversion counts, citing doubt. The court said he admitted a large part of the facts, was defended by a court-appointed lawyer he had accepted, and that his family was allowed regular visits.

Macau's government said it "respects and supports" the ruling and that the court acted independently, Lusa reported via RTP.

Family and lawyer object

His wife, Cheang Mio San, told Lusa the family finds both the verdict and the sentence "unacceptable" and called the case "a political trial". She said she has had no written communication with him since his detention, Notícias ao Minuto reported.

Michael Polak, the London-based lawyer who heads the legal aid group Justice Abroad and represents Au internationally, called the trial "a farce". He said that "Portugal and the European Union should demand that he be allowed to leave Macau", according to Lusa. Justice Abroad says Au, who is 69, was held for almost 12 months without being able to speak to his family; it took the case to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on 11 September.

Why it matters in Portugal

Au was arrested at the end of July 2025. Days later the Foreign Ministry said it was following the case through Portugal's Consulate-General in Macau "in the spirit of the Joint Declaration", the 1987 Portugal and China treaty that set the terms of the handover. Lusa notes the treaty provides for rights, freedoms and guarantees to be maintained in Macau for 50 years. On a visit to Macau in September 2025, Prime Minister Luís Montenegro said the case had not been raised in his talks and called for "the necessary discretion", RTP reported.

For Portuguese citizens who also hold another nationality, the case shows a hard limit: China and Macau do not recognise dual nationality, Lusa notes, and the court's statement describes Au simply as a Macau resident. By the time of writing, no reaction from the Portuguese government to the verdict had been published. For an earlier case of Portuguese citizens detained abroad, see our report on the two Portuguese held in the West Bank.