HONG KONG (AP)--As Hong Kong prepares to bring its first criminal case against followers of the Falun Gong movement, human rights watchdogs are predicting another ominous test of the former British colony's freedoms and autonomy.
Falun Gong is banned on the Chinese mainland as an ``evil cult.'' But Hong Kong, although a part of China since 1997, has kept the freedoms that allow Falun Gong to practice its meditation exercises and to protest against the Chinese government's suppression of the movement.
It has created an uncomfortable situation for Hong Kong and its leader, Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa, but until now Hong Kong has responded only with words, calling Falun Gong a ``cult'' and promising to closely watch the group.
That changes on Monday, when 16 Falun Gong followers--12 Hong Kong Chinese and four Swiss--go on trial for public obstruction during a protest outside the Chinese government's liaison office here. Some also face stiffer charges--obstructing and assaulting the police.
The potential penalties are mild compared with the situation on the mainland, where a brutal crackdown allegedly has left hundreds dead. Public obstruction can mean up to three months in jail or fines of $64, while obstructing the police can lead to two years in prison.
The trial will be very different from what defendants could expect in, say, Shenzhen, the Chinese border city just an hour's train ride from central Hong Kong. The Falun Gong followers will be tried under the English common-law system inherited from British rule, before judges whose independence is guaranteed under the terms of the 1997 change of sovereignty.
Still, Falun Gong fears Hong Kong is following China's lead and trying to silence the group--a charge Hong Kong's semiautonomous government denies.
``This is no doubt a political move and has an element of suppression to it,'' said a local Falun Gong spokesman, Kan Hung-cheung. ``We hope Hong Kong's courts will rule justly and won't start acting like China, where there is no justice at all.''
Many in Hong Kong have little sympathy for Falun Gong, but rights campaigners say unpopular expression must be protected if free speech is to thrive under the ``one country, two systems'' formula that returned Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty but preserves its Western-style civil liberties.
``It's shameful that they have chosen to harass protesters so harshly by prosecuting them,'' said Law Yuk-kai, director of the Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor, a non-governmental organization.
``Now they're targeting Falun Gong; soon it will be other people,'' Law said.
The Falun Gong followers were arrested in March in a scuffle with police. The Chinese office had complained they were a public obstruction and the police told them to move a few steps away.
``If they would say we are guilty, this would mean persecution from China is going over to Hong Kong,'' said Erich Bachmann, one of the Swiss who had come to Hong Kong to support the Falun Gong movement.
Hong Kong officials insist they sought only to maintain order.
The secretary-general of Hong Kong's biggest pro-Beijing political party, who also is a member of China's parliament, said police acted properly.
``If I park my car and cause inconvenience to others, the police would give me a ticket,'' Ma Lik said. ``I don't think the government is prosecuting them in order to go along with China. If they wanted to do that, they would have arrested them long ago.''
Lawyer John Clancey, representing the 16 defendants, says his clients were in nobody's way.
``It will be very hard to put the case forward that they were actually obstructing anything,'' Clancey said.
AP-NY-06-14-02 0654EDT