A landmark nationwide safety trial opened Monday in Hong Kong for outstanding activist and writer Jimmy Lai, who faces a doable life sentence if convicted below a regulation imposed by Beijing to crush dissidents.
Lai, 76, was arrested in August 2020 throughout a crackdown on town’s pro-democracy motion below the sweeping nationwide safety regulation enacted following big protests 4 years in the past. He was charged with colluding with international forces to hazard nationwide safety and conspiring with others to place out seditious publications.
The intently watched case tied to the now-shuttered pro-democracy newspaper Apple Each day that Lai based is extensively seen as a trial of press freedom and a check for judicial independence within the Asian monetary hub.
China promised that the previous British colony may retain its Western-style civil liberties for 50 years after returning to Chinese language rule in 1997. However lately, the Hong Kong authorities has severely restricted free speech and meeting and nearly eradicated political opposition below the rubric of sustaining nationwide safety. Many main activists had been arrested, silenced or pressured into self-exile.
Lai’s trial is Hong Kong’s first on costs of collusion with international forces. It additionally targets three corporations associated to Apple Each day.
Lai smiled and waved at his supporters after he walked into the courtroom. Some members of the general public waved at Lai to point out their help. Hong Kong’s Roman Catholic Cardinal Joseph Zen, a vocal democracy advocate within the metropolis, and representatives from international consulates had been among the many attendees.
Forward of the opening statements, Lai’s lawyer Robert Pang, going through the prosecution in court docket, stated the sedition cost his consumer was going through did not comply with the due course of regulation.
Pang argued the regulation required the prosecution of sedition costs to start inside six months after an alleged offense was dedicated, saying the prosecutors did not do it inside that timeframe in Lai’s case.
Three judges, authorised by the federal government, are overseeing the proceedings. The trial is anticipated to final about 80 days.
Final yr, six former Apple Each day executives entered responsible pleas to collusion costs, admitting to the court docket they conspired with Lai to name for sanctions or different hostile actions in opposition to Hong Kong or China. They had been convicted and await sentencing behind bars.
A few of the former executives, alongside two others who additionally pleaded responsible to collusion costs, had been anticipated to testify as witnesses for the prosecution of Lai.
Outdoors the court docket constructing, there was a heavy police presence. Dozens of residents queued as much as attend the listening to hours earlier than its begin.
Lai’s trial was initially scheduled to start out final December however was postponed whereas the Hong Kong authorities appealed to Beijing to successfully block his try to rent a British protection lawyer. Metropolis authorities subsequently barred the lawyer, Timothy Owen, from representing Lai, saying it could probably pose nationwide safety dangers.
