Jimmy Lai Chee-ying’s lawyers have asked Hong Kong judges hearing his national security trial to discard prosecutors’ evidence that the tabloid founder devised an anti-China lobbying strategy, saying the witness making the allegation was an “admitted serial liar”.
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Defence lawyers on Wednesday wrapped up their closing arguments at West Kowloon Court for the former media boss’s national security trial, in which Lai is contesting charges of conspiracy to print seditious articles and collude with foreign forces.
Lai, who has been detained since December 2020, allegedly used his now-defunct news outlet and social media platforms to trigger foreign sanctions and incite public disaffection against authorities between April 2019 and June 2021.
The 77-year-old is also suspected of financing the “Fight for Freedom, Stand with Hong Kong” (SWHK) lobbying group to instigate hostile actions by the West.
Prosecutors have relied heavily on Lai’s pursuit of foreign sanctions and other measures targeting China before the implementation of the national security law in June 2020, contending that he was “resolute” in furthering his cause through statements on social media, in newspaper columns and in interviews after collusion became a crime.
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Marc Corlett, who is part of Lai’s legal team, said it was not “inherently incredible” for the Apple Daily founder to deny discussing any lobbying tactics with SWHK’s core members during what was described as a watershed meeting in Taiwan in January 2020.