Hong Kong tycoon Jimmy Lai to testify in own drawn-out trial as judge refuses to dismiss case

Former media mogul stands accused of sedition and collusion with foreign powers

Jimmy Lai in Hong Kong, China, on 12 December 2020 (Getty)

Former media mogul Jimmy Lai will have to wait for several more months before he can take the stand to defend himself in a high-profile national security case in Hong Kong that critics have slammed as a show trial by the Chinese government.

Mr Lai, 76, founder of the now-shuttered Apple Daily newspaper, could be sentenced to life in prison if found guilty of sedition and collusion with foreign powers under the draconian national security law.

The West Kowloon court on Thursday refused to dismiss the trial against Mr Lai. “Having considered all the submissions we ruled that the first defendant has a case to answer on all the charges,” judge Esther Toh said.

The court adjourned the hearing until 20 November.

Mr Lai’s defence, led by Robert Pang, had argued that the prosecution didn’t present evidence of the businessman’s involvement in a criminal plot to instigate international sanctions against Hong Kong.

To the prosecution’s allegation that Mr Lai used the Apple Daily as a platform to conspire against the city’s government, Mr Pang replied that the paper published a spectrum of views.

He pointed out that freedom of the press was guaranteed under the city’s Basic Law and the Bill of Rights Ordinance.

Jimmy Lai arrives in court on 31 December 2020 (AFP via Getty)

It marked the 92^nd day of proceedings on a trial that was originally estimated to last 80 days. The four-month delay is because the three judges, each handpicked by the government, will handle other unrelated High Court criminal cases.

During his trial the businessman, who was first detained in 2020 and has remained in solitary confinement in a maximum-security prison for nearly four years, has appeared in court dressed in suits and wearing a scarf around his neck, greeting his wife and children in the courtroom while appearing calm.

Several Western governments, human rights groups and his colleagues have criticised Mr Lai’s trial as a sham.

Nearly 175 people, including US and British nationals, have been named as co-conspirators in the case against Mr Lai, who was jailed in 2020.

Human rights campaigner Luke de Pulford, an alleged co-conspirator in the case, said on Thursday the trial is a “ludicrous travesty of justice”.

“No amount of posturing around in wigs can cover up the fact that this is Chinese Communist Party lawfare, plain and simple,” Mr Pulford told The Independent. “Shamefully the UK has barely lifted a finger to help him, despite the fact Jimmy is a British citizen and his case represents a violation of an international agreement with Britain.”

Britain returned Hong Kong to China in 1997 after 156 years of colonial rule. But many legal traditions from the colonial era linger on, with judges wearing silver horsehair wigs and dark robes with lilac facings to court.

A protester dressed as a judge and carrying a mask of Chinese president Xi Jinping stands outside a court in Hong Kong (AFP via Getty)

Mark Simon, an American who worked at Apple Daily, criticised the court’s decision to delay Mr Lai’s hearing until a November date, saying it will keep the diabetes patient for an extended period.

“My boss, Jimmy Lai is 76, diabetic, kept in solitary confinement, no communication with outside world. The HK government just delayed Mr Lai’s testimony until 20 November,” Mr Simon, another co-conspirator in the case, said. “It is not just Mr Lai’s newspaper they didn’t want you to read, it’s Jimmy Lai they do not want you to hear.”