Explainer-Jimmy Lai: What to know about national security trial of Hong Kong media tycoon By Reuters

(Observe language in paragraph 26 that some readers could discover offensive)

By Jessie Pang and James Pomfret

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong media tycoon and pro-democracy advocate Jimmy Lai testified this week in court docket for the primary time in a landmark nationwide safety trial accusing him of endangering China’s nationwide safety by colluding with overseas forces.

First arrested underneath the nationwide safety regulation in August 2020, Lai, 76, has been held in solitary confinment since December 2020. He additionally faces separate sedition fees linked to his Apple (NASDAQ:) Every day newspaper.

The prosecution has accused Lai of collusion with overseas forces, similar to conferences with U.S. officers in Washington through the presidency of Donald Trump, calling for sanctions in opposition to Chinese language and Hong Kong officers.

Lai has pleaded not responsible to 2 fees of conspiracy to collude with overseas forces and a cost of conspiracy to publish seditious materials.

WHY DOES IT MATTER?

The trial is broadly seen as a landmark nationwide safety case after Beijing imposed sweeping safety legal guidelines on the Asian monetary hub in 2020, following months of pro-democracy protests in 2019.

Lai, a longstanding critic of the Chinese language Communist Occasion, is without doubt one of the most excessive profile figures to face prosecution underneath the regulation.

Hong Kong’s former colonial ruler Britain and the US have condemned the trial and have referred to as for Lai’s quick launch. Hong Kong officers say Lai will obtain a good trial.

WHAT IS THE PROSECUTION’S CASE?

Prosecutor Anthony Chau described Lai as a “radical” and alleged he was on the centre of conspiracies to collude with overseas forces and publish seditious materials in Apple Every day.

The court docket heard that one instance of Lai’s alleged collusion was conferences he held in July 2019 with U.S. President Donald Trump’s then vp Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at a time when Hong Kong’s mass pro-democracy and pro-democracy protests had been intensifying.

In Wednesday’s testimony Lai stated he had by no means sought to affect the overseas coverage of different international locations, similar to the US, in direction of China and Hong Kong.

“I might not dare to ask the vp (Pence) to do something. I might simply relay to him what occurred in Hong Kong when he requested me,” Lai stated.

On Thursday Lai stated he was in opposition to violence and denied searching for to incite hatred in opposition to China and Hong Kong authorities in articles he had written.

“All I stated on this article was the true reflection of the details I perceived,” Lai stated on Friday. “And the true ideas of my coronary heart, with none sense of hostility or intention to be seditious. And this goes for all my different articles.”

He added, “For reality prevails in God’s kingdom, and that’s ok for me.”

WHO IS THE PROSECUTION LINKING WITH LAI?

The prosecution listed brokers and intermediaries of Lai, together with Paul Wolfowitz, former U.S. deputy protection secretary, James Cunningham, former U.S. consul normal to Hong Kong, and Benedict Rogers (NYSE:), founding father of the Hong Kong Watch rights group.

Commenting from outdoors Hong Kong, Cunningham and Rogers stated Lai’s interactions had been regular, authorized exercise.

Prosecutors additionally stated they’d recognized a syndicate led by Lai, which they stated included activists, his aide, rights campaigners, a Japanese congresswoman and a U.S. financier.

The prosecution case says these folks contacted Australia, Britain, the Czech Republic, Eire, Japan, New Zealand, Portugal and the US, to impose sanctions or take different hostile actions in opposition to Hong Kong and China.

Prosecutors described Lai as “the mastermind and monetary supporter on the highest stage command of the syndicate”.

Nonetheless, Lai stated he had by no means donated any cash to political events abroad or in Taiwan. He added that he had solely donated cash to U.S. thinktanks and spiritual teams.

One collusion rely accused Lai of hyperlinks to a gaggle the prosecution named as “Stand With Hong Kong Combat For Freedom” (SWHK), which it stated lobbied international locations for sanctions on China and Hong Kong.

Mark Simon, Lai’s aide and a U.S. citizen, executed his directions and vetted requests for monetary assist, in line with prosecutors.

However Andy Li, a key prosecution witness linked to SWHK, who had been jailed for seven months in a Chinese language jail earlier than the trial, stated underneath cross examination on April 10 that he had by no means met nor contacted Lai.

He had by no means acquired cash from Lai, nor from entities he believed related to him, he added.

Prosecutors additionally accused Lai of utilizing Apple Every day as a platform to conspire with three of its subsidiaries, six former executives linked to the newspaper, and workers members Mark Simon and others to collude with overseas forces.

Lai, nevertheless, stated he hardly ever issued directions or protection instructions to the newsroom. He denied asking Apple Every day’s former affiliate writer Chan Pui-man to compile a “shitlist” of Hong Kong officers who needs to be sanctioned.

Cheung Kim-hung, the previous CEO of Apple Every day’s mother or father firm Subsequent (LON:) Digital, instructed the court docket Lai instructed him to name folks to hitch protests in 2019, and push for sanctions in opposition to Hong Kong and Chinese language officers.

Cheung denied being requested by the police to grow to be a prosecution witness whereas remanded in custody.