2024-01-02 13:38:00
Pro-democracy tycoon Jimmy Lai, who faces life in prison for endangering national security, pleaded not guilty in Hong Kong on Tuesday in a trial seen as a barometer of civil liberties in the former British colony under control Chinese.
The charges against Mr. Lai – founder of the popular tabloid Apple Daily, now shuttered – are linked to articles in that newspaper that supported pro-democracy protests and criticized Beijing’s leaders.
Owner of this Chinese-language daily closed in 2021, Mr. Lai, 76, was arrested in August 2020 and originally charged with “conspiracy to produce seditious materials”, an offense provided for by a law dating from the colonial era, as well as “conspiracy to collude with foreign powers” and “collusion”.
For the last two charges, he faces life imprisonment, under a drastic Hong Kong national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020. Prosecutors, however, indicated on Tuesday that they were dropping the charge of “collusion “, already covered by the charge of “conspiracy to collusion”.
“Not guilty,” Mr. Lai said in English upon each charge.
Dressed in a white shirt and navy blue jacket, he was surrounded by three prison guards in the dock. The septuagenarian, whose trial began in December, has already spent more than 1,100 days in pre-trial detention.
“This case concerns a radical political figure who conspired with others to generate hatred and stir up opposition to central authorities,” prosecutor Anthony Chau told the court on Tuesday.
He accused Mr. Lai of trying “to collude with foreign countries or external agents and endanger national security.”
Mr. Chau described Mr. Lai “as the mastermind” who allegedly used his media “as a platform to pursue his political goals.
The prosecutor cited 161 publications from Apple Daily between April 2019 and its last issue published in June 2021 “as evidence of seditious articles (…) with the aim of polluting the minds of those who are impressionable”.
The tycoon is accused of giving orders and providing financial support to the organization Stand With Hong Kong Fight For Freedom (SWHK) to lobby foreign governments to seek international sanctions against Hong Kong.
“Foreign Connections”
The prosecution also pointed to Mr Lai’s meeting with former US Vice President Mike Pence and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in 2019, evidence it said he had “a vast network of foreign connections”. .
The prosecutor also listed dozens of politicians, activists and academics in Hong Kong, Britain, the United States, Canada, Taiwan and Japan who are said to be “connections” of Mr. Lai. .
Several other former Apple Daily executives are also being prosecuted.
Highly publicized, Mr. Lai’s trial is closely watched because it is considered a barometer of the current state of civil liberties in Hong Kong and the independence of justice in this former British colony.
The United Kingdom and the United States have requested the release of Mr. Lai, who is a British citizen. The European Union and the United Nations have also expressed concern about his fate.
Beijing has brushed aside these criticisms as defamation and interference.
01/02/2024 12:37:12 – Hong Kong (AFP) – © 2024 AFP
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