HONG KONG – A Hong Kong court found two pro-democracy activists who organized annual vigils to mark China’s deadly Tiananmen crackdown guilty of “incitement to subversion” on Friday.

The closely watched national security case was seen as a bellwether for freedom of expression in the Chinese city.

Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung were leaders of the now-defunct Hong Kong Alliance, a group that organized annual candlelit vigils to commemorate the victims of Beijing’s 1989 Tiananmen crackdown.