Macau Sentences Former Lawmaker Au Kam San to 12 Years and Six Months

Macau has sentenced former lawmaker Au Kam San to 12 years and six months in prison, BBC reported. The sentence was handed down on Friday, 6 November 2026, in what was the territory's first national security case.

Au is 69 years old and is a pro-democracy former lawmaker and democracy campaigner. Au was elected to Macau's Legislative Assembly, the territory's law-making body, in September 2001 and served for 20 years. Au also co-organised annual vigils in Macau to commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing.

Au was arrested in July 2025. Prosecutors brought seven charges: three counts of subverting state power, three counts of endangering national security by contacting foreign organisations, and one count of breach of confidentiality, which concerns the improper disclosure of protected information.

The trial lasted three days and ended in September. It was held behind closed doors. Au was found guilty of four of the seven charges, including subversion against the political power of the state, which is the offence the court named among the convictions. Reuters reported the sentence, citing the local broadcaster TDM as its source for the figure of 12.5 years.

Macau was handed back to China in 1999, ending more than 400 years of Portuguese administration. Its national security law took effect in 2009, and it sets out offences against state security that the territory's courts now apply.

On the day of sentencing, the Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region issued a statement saying it firmly supports the judicial authorities in ruling the first national security case in accordance with the law.