Global Courant 2023-05-29 15:35:00
HONG KONG — A Hong Kong court on Monday denied a request to end a groundbreaking national security trial against media mogul Jimmy Lai, a case that could send him to prison for the rest of his life if convicted.
Lai, 75, is the founder of the now-closed pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily and one of the most prominent critics of the Chinese Communist Party in Hong Kong, including President Xi Jinping.
Lai and his three companies – Apple Daily Limited, Apple Daily Printing Limited and AD Internet Limited – faced a total of three national security law charges, including collusion with foreign forces.
Beijing imposed national security law on Hong Kong in 2020 after months of anti-government protests. The law punishes acts including subversion, collusion with foreign forces and terrorism with life sentences.
Lai is also charged with conspiracy to print inflammatory publications linked to Apple Daily, which was shut down in June 2021 after police arrested her staff and had her assets frozen by authorities. Sedition is punishable by up to two years in prison.
Lai has promised to plead not guilty and has been in prison for more than two years. His trial will begin in September.
Lai’s lawyer, Mr. Robert Pang, requested that the proceedings be terminated, arguing that the court appears to be biased against his client due to a lack of transparency in the appointment of national security judges by the Hong Kong Chief Executive, John Lee.
“If there is any doubt about the independence and impartiality of the court … it cannot be allowed,” Pang said.
Mr Pang also argued that barring Lai’s British lawyer, Mr Timothy Owen, from representing him in the trial “is prosecution, not prosecution”.
Supreme Court justices Esther Toh, Susana D’Almada Remedios and Alex Lee rejected Lai’s challenge, arguing that they were appointed by the president as national security judges on the recommendation of the Judicial Officers Recommendation Commission, an independent advisory body composed of the Chief Justice and other members.
The Security Act empowers the Chief Executive to select a panel of judges to hear national security cases.
The Supreme Court last Friday rejected an attempt by Lai to challenge a decision by security officials to effectively bar Mr Owen from representing him in the trial.
The use of foreign lawyers by both prosecutors and defense has long been allowed in the former British colony as part of the rule of law traditions.
Lai was sentenced to five years and nine months in prison last December for fraud. REUTERS
