HK pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai found guilty
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Pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai has been found guilty on two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and one count of sedition by Hong Kong’s High Court under a China-imposed national security law.
He pleaded not guilty to all charges. Sentencing is expected to come at a later date.
Under Hong Kong’s sweeping national security law, Lai could face up to life imprisonment.
The case has drawn international scrutiny of Hong Kong’s judicial independence amid a years-long crackdown on rights and freedoms in the global financial hub.
Lai, 78, was arrested in August 2020 under a Beijing-imposed national security law that was implemented following massive anti-government protests in 2019.
During his five years in custody, Lai has been sentenced for several lesser offences, and appears to have grown more frail and thinner.
After entering the courtroom on Monday, Lai smiled and waved to the public gallery. Among the attendees were Lai’s wife and son, and Hong Kong’s Roman Catholic Cardinal Joseph Zen.
Lai’s trial, heard by three judges approved by the government without a jury present, has been closely monitored by the US, Britain, the European Union and political observers as a barometer of media freedom and judicial independence in the former British colony, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
Reading from an 855-page verdict, Judge Esther Toh said the evidence showed Lai had extended “constant invitations” to the US to help bring down the Chinese government.
“There is no doubt that the first defendant had harbored his resentment and hatred of the PRC for many of his adult years,” Toh said, using an acronym for the People’s Republic of China.
Toh added the court was satisfied that Lai was the “mastermind” of the conspiracies and his intent was to seek the downfall of the ruling Communist Party even at the sacrifice of the people of China and Hong Kong.
Lai pressed his lips and nodded to his family before being escorted out of the courtroom by guards.
Monday’s verdict is also a test for Beijing’s diplomatic ties.
US President Donald Trump said he raised the case with China and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has made it a priority to secure the release of Lai, who is a British citizen.
Lai, the founder of the now-defunct pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, has been a vocal critic of the Hong Kong government and the ruling Chinese Communist Party. The newspaper was forced to shut in 2021 after police raided its newsroom and arrested its senior journalists, with authorities freezing its assets.
In 2022, Lai was sentenced to five years and nine months in prison over separate fraud charges involving lease violations at Apple Daily’s headquarters. He was also previously sentenced for his roles in unauthorised assemblies in other cases related to the 2019 protests.
with AP
Reuters
