National security trial against Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai begins amid heavy police presence
Hong Kong Free Press
Around a hundred people, many wrapped up warm to keep wintry temperatures at bay, waited outside a monolithic Hong Kong court building on Monday morning for tickets to watch the landmark national security trial against pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai begin from the public gallery.
They were outnumbered, though, by police officers, who were equipped with bomb-sniffing dogs, armoured vehicles and a bomb disposal van, part of an enhanced security operation announced last Friday.
Lai, who recently marked his 76th birthday from high-security prison, was taken to court by Correctional Services Department vehicle at around 7.30 am on Monday. The founder of the defunct Apple Daily newspaper stands accused of conspiring to collude with foreign forces under the national security legislation, and taking part in a conspiracy to publish “seditious” materials under the city’s colonial-era sedition law.
The charges have also been laid against three companies under Apple Daily’s parent company Next Digital – Apple Daily Limited, Apple Daily Printing Limited, and AD Internet Limited.
About 100 people were lining up for public gallery seats at around 8.15 am. People wearing flag pins from Australia, UK and Canada were among those in line.
A university student from mainland China told HKFP he had been there for about an hour. He said he had read about Lai on Twitter and was curious how the trial would go.
“I think people shouldn’t be sentenced for their speech,” the politics student who declined to share his name said.
A woman in the line, who also declined to give her name, told HKFP she had been following the news about Lai closely. The retiree said she had never been to court before and did not know what to expect.
Veteran activist Alexandra “Grandma” Wong was encircled by several police officers with cordon tape while across the road from the court building. She was holding a British flag, which she became well known for carrying during the protests in Hong Kong in 2019.
The trial, seen globally as a bellwether for media freedom in Hong Kong, is expected to last 80 days. Authorities have insisted that it has nothing to do with press freedom.
Lai was first arrested under the national security law in early August 2020, a little over a month after Beijing imposed the sweeping legislation on June 30 that year. The law – which followed a year of protests and unrest over a controversial extradition law – criminalised subversion, secession, collusion with foreign forces and terrorism.
Lai was charged in December 2020 and has been detained since then. He is currently serving a prison sentence for a separate fraud case.
Six senior executives of Apple Daily were also charged alongside Lai. They pleaded guilty in November 2020 and will be sentenced after the conclusion of Lai’s trial. Some are set to take the stand against Lai as prosecution witnesses, according to the defence.
Delays and debates
Lai’s closely-watched trial was meant to begin on December 1 last year, but was delayed due to debate over whether Lai should be allowed to hire a UK lawyer, Timothy Owen.
His intention to hire Owen, a King’s Counsel (KC) and specialist in criminal, public and human rights law, was revealed in court last September. KCs, the equivalent of senior counsels in Hong Kong, need official permission to appear in the city’s courts.
After Hong Kong’s top court allowed Lai to hire Owen despite appeals from the Department of Justice, the government invited Beijing last December to interpret the national security law and deliver a decision on whether overseas lawyers could be engaged. The trial was adjourned until September to await Beijing’s interpretation.
Beijing then determined that the city’s chief executive and national security committee had the power to decide if an overseas lawyer could participate in a case.
In August, judges said during a pre-trial review that the case would be adjourned to December to ensure that national security judge Alex Lee would be done with proceedings for the 47 democrats’ national security trial, which he is also presiding over.
Additional reporting: Hans Tse
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