Jimmy Lai trial: Prosecution witness says he lied to police to downplay role in activist group that urged sanctions
Hong Kong Free Press
A prosecution witness testifying in Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai’s national security trial has said he lied to the police earlier, including when he told officers he was not a member of Stand With Hong Kong, an activist group that urged foreign sanctions on city.
Chan Tsz-wah, a paralegal who was charged alongside Lai but has pleaded guilty, appeared at West Kowloon Law Courts Building on Friday as the defence continued questioning him.
Representing Lai, lawyer Mark Corlett brought up Stand With Hong Kong, a pro-democracy group that called on foreign governments to impose sanctions on the city’s officials over their response to the protests in 2019.
Corlett asked Chan whether it was right that he “personally did not play any part in those lobbying activities.” Chan said he disagreed, implying that he had.
The lawyer then presented to the court with a transcript of an interview with police on October 11, 2020, after he was arrested over assisting an offender. He pointed to a line in which police asked whether he had been involved in the group’s lobbying efforts, to which Chan replied he had not.
“You told the police you did not participate in the lobbying work. Was that true or false?” Corlett asked.
“At the time, it was false,” Chan said in Cantonese without elaborating.
The exchange was one of a number of moments during Friday’s trial in which Chan admitted to giving false statements to police during the October 2020 interview.
Before Corlett questioned him on his participation in Stand With Hong Kong’s lobbying efforts, he confirmed with Chan what his affiliation with the group was. Chan told the court he became a member of the group in June or July 2020.
This was contrary to what he told police in the same 2020 interview, Corlett showed. According to the transcript the lawyer displayed to the court, Chan had said in the interview that he was “certainly not” a member of Stand With Hong Kong.
Chan’s lies also involved Andy Li, an activist who was was charged alongside alongside Chan and Lai in the national security case. Like Chan, Li has pleaded guilty and is testifying against Lai in the trial.
When asked by Corlett, Chan said that he had knowledge about the leadership of Stand With Hong Kong and connections with them, although he did not elaborate.
Corlett followed up by pointing to the same October 2020 transcript. One of the sections showed Chan telling police only that he believed “just like many other groups, [Stand With Hong Kong] had multiple leaders,” not just Li.
“At the time, I wanted police to think that this was unrelated to Li,” Chan told the court.
Alex Lee, one of the three national security judges presiding over the case, asked whether Chan had wanted to exonerate Li at the time. Chan said yes.
At the time of the October 2020 interview with police, Chan had not yet been apprehended under the national security law – his security law arrest was in February 2021 – and hence had not yet agreed to cooperate with the prosecution.
Protests erupted in June 2019 over a since-axed extradition bill. They escalated into sometimes violent displays of dissent against police behaviour, amid calls for democracy and anger over Beijing’s encroachment. Demonstrators demanded an independent probe into police conduct, amnesty for those arrested and a halt to the characterisation of protests as “riots.”
Meetings with Lai
Friday marked the 67th day of Lai’s national security trial. He faces two counts of conspiring to collude with foreign forces and one count of conspiring to publish seditious materials. According to the prosecution, Lai – as well as Chan and Li – had lobbied for foreign governments to impose sanctions on Hong Kong and China.
Lai’s second foreign collusion conspiracy charge, and his sedition charge, relate to his leadership of the now-defunct pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily. Executives of the company were charged alongside Lai, and have since also testified against him after pleading guilty in November 2022.
Also on Friday, the defence questioned Chan over the face-to-face meetings that he had with Lai. The court heard that a second meeting, which took place in November 2019 at Lai’s residence, involved then-lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting and ex-lawmakers Lee Wing-tat and Lee Cheuk-yan.
At the time, the city was in the midst of the anti-extradition unrest. During the meeting, Lai talked about an incident in which a man was set on fire after voicing his opposition to the protests.
Chan agreed with Corlett that Lai said he was “appalled” by the incident, and that the leaders of the radical camp were getting more and more violent.
The paralegal, however, disagreed with the lawyer on other points made about Lai. Corlett said Chan had told the prosecution during their examination of him that Lai said in the meeting that the mogul wanted to lead the radical protesters, believing that their violent actions could cause the pro-democracy movement to lose international support.
“[I] suggest to you that Mr Lai did not at that meeting say he wanted to be a leader of the valiants,” Corlette said, to which Chan said he disagreed.
For their fifth meeting – which was also attended by now-UK-based activist Finn Lau – Chan and Lai met at the media mogul’s property in Taiwan in January 2020.
Corlett said Lai did not say anything about using embargos and sanctions to “achieve China implosion,” nor did he bring up international lobbying or US house speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“I disagree,” Chan said to Corlett.
‘Fight to the last’
In May 2020, in the lead up to the passing of the national security law, Chan told Lai over WhatsApp messages shown to the court to “be careful,” the trial learned on Friday.
Lee, the judge, asked Chan why he had said so.
“At the time, many people were saying that the national security law was being enacted to target Jimmy Lai,” Chan replied, adding that he did not want anything to happen to the tycoon.
In a message after that, Lai told Chan: “Let’s not worry about personal security. Once [one] came out to join the fight for freedom one is prepared to fight to the last. We may not win but must persist.”
Corlett asked Chan whether he saw Lai’s response as a message encouraging him to keep his spirits up and carry on with the pro-democracy cause.
Chan said that was one of the ways he interpreted Lai’s message.
Corlett said, as Thursday’s hearing came to an end, that he may complete his cross-examination of Chan on Monday.
Lai’s case is one of the most high-profile under the national security law, which Beijing passed in June 2020 following months protests and unrest. He could see up to life imprisonment if convicted.
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