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Three Hong Kong judges who presided over former media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying’s high-profile national security trial for more than 1½ years returned their verdict on Monday, finding him guilty on all charges.
The 78-year-old founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily has spent most of the past five years in solitary confinement, an arrangement made at his own request, after he was first denied bail in December 2020. Lai had denied two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and a third of conspiracy to print seditious articles.
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The businessman turned opposition activist is the most prominent figure yet to be prosecuted under the national security law imposed by Beijing in June 2020.
He used his news outlet and social media platforms to trigger international sanctions and incite public disaffection towards authorities between April 2019 and June 2021, the court found.
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He also provided financial backing to the “Fight for Freedom, Stand with Hong Kong” lobbying group to instigate hostile actions by the West, it found.
The three companies he owned, namely Apple Daily Limited, Apple Daily Printing Limited and AD Internet Limited, were also convicted under the national security law.