A pro-democracy activist who is back in Hong Kong after seven months’ jail in the Chinese city of Shenzhen will face three criminal charges, including collusion with foreign forces to jeopardize state security, police say.

The case was mentioned at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts on Wednesday afternoon. The defendant Andy Li, 30, was not taken to court as he was under mandatory quarantine after returning from Shenzhen. No defense lawyer appeared in court either.

Chief Magistrate Victor So, who was among jurists selected by the chief executive to hear national security cases, adjourned the session to April 31 and remanded Li in custody.

Li faces one count each of collusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security, conspiracy to assist criminals, and possession of ammunition without a license.

He is accused of conspiring with Jimmy Lai, Mark Simon, legal assistant Chan Tze-wah, activist Finn Lau and others to request a foreign country, institution, organization or individual to impose sanctions or blockage or engage in other hostile activities against the Hong Kong government and China between July 1 and Aug. 25, 2020, according to prosecution documents.

The charge of conspiracy to assist criminals is laid against Li as he had illegally escaped from the city with the help of Lai, Chan and others, and knew or believed that he would be convicted under the national security charge.

Li is also charged with possessing ammunition without a license, after the police confiscated 232 used tear-gas canisters, seven rounds of used sponge grenades and 38 rounds of used rubber bullets in his apartment in the New Territories’ Sha Tin on Aug. 10, 2019, the papers show.

Senior prosecutor Ivan Cheung told the magistrate the defendant had met his lawyer, but that the barrister was not present in court on Wednesday. The prosecutor declined to disclose outside the courtroom who the defense lawyer was.

Li was among 12 protesters who were detained by Chinese coastguard in August for illegally crossing into mainland waters while trying to flee to Taiwan in a speedboat. Two of them, both minors at the time of capture, were transferred back to Hong Kong authorities in late December.

The other 10 were convicted in a Shenzhen court around the same time. Eight, including Li, recently completed their seven-month sentences and were handed over by mainland officials to the Hong Kong police on Monday.

Li was reportedly among the first of four batches to cross the Shenzhen Bay control point, and arrived at Tin Shui Wai police station on the same morning. Before the escape attempt last August, he had been released on police bail in Hong Kong.

The sister of Li said on Twitter that when he fled Hong Kong, he saw a judiciary getting corrupted by the city’s national security law.

“On his return, he would be facing one that’s crumbling ever faster, silencing all voices of opposition. He is but one out of 12, out of tens of thousands who are also struggling under rule by law,” she wrote on Monday.

Apple Daily is awaiting her response to enquiries about the police charges on Wednesday.

Li and at least three other returned activists had not yet been able to meet with their family members, according to the Save 12 Hong Kong Youths Concern Group. Li’s family felt extremely helpless and worried, the group said.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam, when asked by reporters on Tuesday to comment on criticism of the police’s handling of the returnees, said only that the force would act according to the law.

The court on Tuesday processed the cases of seven returnees, excluding Li, in relation to their return and detention. It adjourned five of the cases to the end of March and to April 8. The seven people were being isolated as part of COVID-19 measures and did not appear in court.

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