Hong Kong: Hong Kong media tycoon and democracy advocate Jimmy Lai, 76, testified for the first time on Wednesday in a landmark national security trial, where he is accused of colluding with foreign powers to endanger China’s national security.
Jimmy Lai was first arrested under the national security law in August 2020 and has spent most of his time in prison since then. He also faces separate sedition charges related to his newspaper.
The prosecutor accused Li of being suspected of collude with foreign forcesThat allegedly included meetings with U.S. officials in Washington during Donald Trump’s presidency, calling for sanctions against Chinese and Hong Kong officials.
Lai has pleaded not guilty to two counts of conspiring to collude with foreign powers and one count of conspiring to publish inflammatory material.
Why is this important?
The trial is widely seen as a landmark national security case after Beijing imposed a sweeping security law on Hong Kong in 2020 following months of pro-democracy protests in 2019.
Jimmy Lai, a longtime critic of the Chinese Communist Party, is one of the most high-profile figures to face legal prosecution. Diplomats are actively observing the court hearings, viewing the case as a key test of Hong Kong’s judicial independence.
Britain and the United States, Hong Kong’s former colonial rulers, condemned the trial and called for Lai’s immediate release. Hong Kong officials said Jimmy Lai will receive a fair trial.
What is the prosecution’s case?
Prosecutor Zhou Yongkang called Lai a “radical” and claimed he was at the center of a conspiracy to collude with foreign powers and publish inflammatory material in his office. Apple Daily newspaper.
Zhou claimed that Jimmy Lai used “the guise of fighting for freedom and democracy” to ask foreign countries, especially the United States, to impose sanctions on Hong Kong and China or engage in other hostile activities.
The court heard that one example of Lai’s alleged collusion was a meeting he held with US President Donald Trump’s then-Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in July 2019, amid mass protests in Hong Kong. Pro-democracy and pro-democracy protests are intensifying.
In his first testimony in court on Wednesday, Jimmy Lai said he had never tried to influence the foreign policy of other countries such as the United States toward China and Hong Kong.
“I dare not ask the Vice President (Pence) to do anything. When he asks me, I will only convey to him what is happening in Hong Kong,” Jimmy Lai told the Hong Kong court.
Who is the prosecutor’s connection to Lai?
Prosecutors named Jimmy Lai’s agents and intermediaries, including former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, former U.S. Consul General in Hong Kong James Cunningham and Hong Kong Watch founder Benedict Cunningham. Ted Rogers. Cunningham and Rogers commented outside Hong Kong that Lai’s interactions were normal and legal activities.
Prosecutors also said they had identified a criminal group led by Jimmy Lai that included activists, Lai associates, human rights activists, a Japanese congresswoman and an American financier.
Prosecutors said these individuals contacted the United States, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, the Czech Republic, Portugal and Ireland to impose sanctions or take other hostile actions against Hong Kong and China.
Prosecutors described Lai as “the group’s most senior mastermind and financial backer”.
However, Jimmy Lai said he has never donated any money to political parties overseas or in Taiwan. He added that he only donates to American think tanks and religious groups.
One collusion charge alleges that Lai was linked to a group named by prosecutors as Stand with Hong Kong for Freedom (SWHK), which it said lobbies for sanctions against China and Hong Kong.
According to prosecutors, Jimmy Lai’s aide, U.S. citizen Mark Simon, carried out his instructions and reviewed requests for financial support.
But Andy Li, a key prosecution witness with ties to New Hong Kong who had been imprisoned in a Chinese prison for seven months before the trial, said during cross-examination on April 10 that he had never met or contacted Li. Chi-ying also “never” received a message from Jimmy Lai.
Prosecutors also accused Jimmy Lai of using Apple Daily as a platform to collude with foreign forces with its three subsidiaries, six former executives associated with the newspaper, and staff member Mark Simon.
Lai, however, said he rarely gave the newsroom instructions or directives about coverage.
James Chang, the former CEO of Next Media, the parent company of Apple Daily, told the court that Jimmy Lai instructed him to call on people to participate in the 2019 protests and push for sanctions against Hong Kong and Chinese officials. Zhang denied being asked by the police to become a prosecution witness while on remand.
