Hong Kong’s High Court found tycoon and pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai guilty yesterday of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces in the city’s highest-profile trial under a China-imposed national security law that could see him jailed for life.
The landmark 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 after 2019 pro-democracy protests that Beijing saw as a challenge to its rule.
While 78-year-old Lai’s supporters see him as a freedom fighter, Beijing regards him as a mastermind of the protests and a conspirator advocating for US sanctions against Hong Kong and the mainland. Chinese authorities have rejected accusations of eroding the city’s rule of law.
“There is no doubt” that Lai ‘had harboured his resentment and hatred’ of China for many of his adult years,” Judge Esther Toh told courtroom.
The two other judges in his case were Alex Lee and Susana D’Almada Remedios.
Lai, the founder of the now-shuttered Apple Daily newspaper and one of the most prominent critics of China’s Communist Party leadership, has already spent five years in jail, facing a slew of litigation under the sweeping security legislation that Beijing enacted in response to the 2019 protests.
A pre-sentencing hearing at which Lai can plead for lenience is scheduled for January 12.
His lawyer, Steven Kwan, said Lai would decide whether to appeal after the sentencing.
Hong Kong leader John Lee and national security police chief Steve Li told reporters on Monday they welcomed the verdict.
“The judiciary is confident and unafraid of any intimidation and firmly discharges its responsibility to safeguard national security,” the city’s leader said at the airport before a regular visit to Beijing.
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