Court finds Hong Kong’s Jimmy Lai guilty after landmark national security trial

Hong Kong’s High Court found former media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying guilty on all charges in his national security trial on Monday, ruling that he had used his tabloid newspaper and international connections to push for foreign intervention and sanctions against the local and central governments.

In open proceedings watched by a packed gallery of spectators including representatives of foreign governments at West Kowloon Court, a panel of three judges convicted the businessman turned opposition activist, 78, of sedition and collusion charges, slamming him for sacrificing his compatriots’ interests to pursue his political agenda to bring down the Communist Party.

The 855-page ruling, coming after 156 days of hearings, found that Lai was the mastermind behind three conspiracies to instigate international sanctions and hostile activities against Hong Kong and mainland China, and to print seditious articles through his now-defunct Apple Daily.

While Lai was not held liable for acts committed before the national security law took effect in June 2020, the judges said such evidence could nevertheless prove his intent to continue his push for foreign intervention.

They also noted that he had continued to promote an anti-China stance and call for foreign sanctions even after the law was imposed, although adopting a more subtle approach.

“The only reasonable inference we can draw from the preponderance of the evidence is that [Lai’s] only intent whether pre or post [national security law] was to seek the downfall of the [Communist Party of China] even though the ultimate cost was the sacrifice of the interests of the people of [mainland China] and [Hong Kong],” the panel said.

  

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