Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai is seen in a 2020 file photo.Vincent Yu/The Associated Press
A verdict in the marathon national security trial of Hong Kong media tycoon and pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai is not expected until October, a court said this week.
Mr. Lai, 77, has spent more than 1,500 days in custody, and 45 days testifying, since his arrest on national security charges in 2020. Prosecutors have tried to paint the former Apple Daily publisher as the architect of widespread anti-government protests that rocked Hong Kong in 2019, and accused him of leading a campaign to get foreign governments to sanction Hong Kong and Chinese officials.
He has pleaded not guilty to charges of sedition and conspiracy to collude with foreign forces. If convicted, Mr. Lai could face up to life in prison, and even a shorter sentence could see the diabetic septuagenarian die in custody, his supporters have warned.
In a separate hearing this week regarding the winding up of Apple Daily, Mr. Lai’s popular pro-democracy tabloid that was shuttered as part of the post-2019 crackdown, Judge Linda Chan said proceedings would need to be delayed until 35 days after the verdict in Mr. Lai’s trial, and adjourned the case until November, according to Ming Pao, a Hong Kong newspaper.
In November, more than 90 days into trial proceedings, Mr. Lai began testifying in his defence, a process that has now stretched on for four months, with multiple delays because of the Christmas and Lunar New Year holidays, and the busy schedules of Hong Kong’s limited panel of designated national security judges.
Recent weeks have seen proceedings grow increasingly combative, as Mr. Lai has argued with prosecutors and repeatedly been reprimanded by judges for comments they deemed inappropriate, including in a hearing last week in which he described himself as a “political prisoner.”
Asked Monday about a 2020 op-ed in which he predicted doom for Hong Kong ahead of the imposition by Beijing of a draconian national security law, Mr. Lai said “all has come to pass.”
Mr. Lai had written that the national security law would “not only turn Hong Kong into an ordinary mainland city without freedom and rule of law,” but somewhere “shrouded in terror” like Xinjiang, where the Chinese authorities have been accused of widespread human rights abuses.
Asked by prosecutors whether this assessment still held true, Mr. Lai responded, “if you ask yourself honestly, who in Hong Kong can tell the truth now?”
This earned him another admonition from the bench, with Judge Esther Toh saying she would “not allow political comments” and instructing him to stick to simple affirmative or negative responses to questions.
The prosecution of Mr. Lai, along with other high-profile national security trials such as that of 45 prominent pro-democracy activists which wrapped up in November, has sparked widespread international criticism of both Hong Kong and China.
Earlier this month, the U.S. State Department urged the Hong Kong government to “immediately and unconditionally release Jimmy Lai.”
In a blistering response, China’s Foreign Ministry expressed its “strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition” to the U.S. comments, describing Mr. Lai as the “main planner and instigator of the anti-China chaos in Hong Kong.”
“The more the United States clamour for Lai, the more it shows it is conspiring with Lai,” the statement added. “Their actions are doomed to fail.”
The European Union has also expressed concern about the situation in Hong Kong, with foreign affairs spokesperson Anitta Hipper last week criticizing the “further narrowing of the space for civil society” in the Chinese territory, following news the Hong Kong Democratic Party is preparing to dissolve.
“Journalists and rights-based civil society organizations are under increasing pressures, including the Hong Kong Journalist Association,” Ms. Hipper added. “The European Union urges the Hong Kong authorities to protect the ability of the people of Hong Kong to exercise their rights.”