Hong Kong Wraps up Pro-Democracy Tycoon Jimmy Lai’s Security Trial
Udumbara
HONG KONG—A Hong Kong court said it will deliver its verdict in media tycoon Jimmy Lai’s national security trial at a later date, after closing submissions concluded on Thursday, in a case that has drawn global attention as a test of the rule of law in the Chinese-ruled financial hub.
The 156-day trial, which began in December 2023, has become the most high-profile example of the Chinese communist regime’s crackdown on rights and freedoms in the Asian financial hub under a sweeping national security law that was imposed by Beijing after mass pro-democracy protests in 2019.
When asked to give an indication of the verdict date, one of the three judges Esther Toh said this would be announced “in good time.”
Some countries such as the United States have said the trial is politically motivated and have demanded Lai’s immediate release.
Lai, who faces possible life imprisonment, stands accused of using the Apple Daily as a platform to conspire with six former executives and others to produce seditious publications between April 2019 and June 2021, and to collude with foreign forces between July 2020 and June 2021.
He was accused of conspiring with activist Andy Li, paralegal Chan Tsz-wah, and others to invite foreign countries, including the United Staes, Britain, and Japan to impose sanctions, blockades, and other hostile activities against Hong Kong and China. He was also accused of financing advocacy group called “Stand with Hong Kong Fight for Freedom.”
During the submissions, Lai’s lawyer Marc Corlett said there was no evidence his client directed or agreed with any of his alleged co-conspirators to continue such actions against Hong Kong and China after the security law took effect.
Corlett described the accomplice witness Chan Tsz-wah as a “serial liar” while saying Li had engaged in activities that violated the national security law of his “own volition” without any involvement from Lai.
He added that merely following the Twitter accounts of Stand with Hong Kong and another group critical of Beijing, the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, did not amount to support for them.
Another lawyer for Lai, Robert Pang, said the 161 articles cited by the prosecution were not seditious and the press should be given “greater latitude” of freedom of expression.
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