All eyes on Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai as high-stakes national security trial gets under way

Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying's landmark national security trial opened on Monday over collusion charges that could lead to the outspoken Beijing critic and anti-government activist being sentenced to life in prison if convicted.

In a case closely watched around the world, the 76-year-old founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily tabloid newspaper is facing three conspiracy charges relating to sedition and collusion with foreign forces for allegedly drawing international sanctions against authorities and inciting public hatred in the wake of anti-government protests in 2019.

The opening of what is slated to be an 80-day trial at West Kowloon Court in Cheung Sha Wan attracted a wide range of interested parties on Monday including Lai's family, foreign diplomats, press freedom observers and a former Catholic Church leader, with a heavy police presence also on show.

Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.

The proceedings also sparked a fresh war of words between the Chinese government and Western counterparts, with Beijing hitting back at their "double standards" in condemning the trial and pressuring for Lai's release.

Hong Kong's Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu, who is in Beijing for his annual duty visit to the central government, also weighed in, urging critics not to interfere with the courts, saying he had full confidence in their impartiality and in the city's rule of law.

Hours before the trial began, dozens of people queued outside the court building hoping to catch a glimpse of Lai, who has spent three years behind bars since first being denied bail in December 2020.

Lai turned 76 in the maximum-security Stanley Prison earlier this month, his fourth birthday in jail. He has been detained for more than 1,100 days.

The trial, a High Court case, was moved to the more spacious West Kowloon Court building in light of the duration and to better accommodate crowds.

Dressed in a grey blazer and flanked by four prison officers, the billionaire sat calmly in the dock at the back of the courtroom, placing his hand under his chin as he listened to exchanges between the bench and lawyers through an earphone.

Lai's wife, Teresa Li-Lai Wan-kam, his youngest son Augustin Lai Zhun-yan and daughter Claire Lai Choi were also in court, sitting in the public gallery beside retired Catholic leader Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, who waved to the tycoon as he entered. Lai smiled in return.

The tycoon, who appeared to have lost some weight, was seen trying to communicate with his family during short breaks, mouthing some words to them, and seemed confused at one point after noticing Zen had left the public gallery. Lai also waved to some of the 70 court attendees sitting behind 30 reporters in the public gallery as he went into and out of the dock.

The opening session began with a clarification from the panel of three judges overseeing the trial, who said they had noticed erroneous press reports about the court purportedly rejecting Lai's request for an overseas witness to testify remotely via a video link.

Madam Justice Esther Toh Lye-ping, who was joined by fellow judges Susana D'Almada Remedios and Alex Lee Wan-tang, said Lai's counsel had never made such an application, which the defence confirmed.

The focus then switched to a conspiracy charge against Lai under colonial-era sedition legislation, which prosecutors have actively invoked since Beijing imposed the national security law on the city in 2020 to ban acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces.

Prosecutors accused Lai of using Apple Daily as a platform for anti-government propaganda from April 1, 2019, shortly after then chief executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor proposed a contentious extradition bill, until the newspaper's closure on June 24, 2021.

Lai is facing one count of conspiring to publish seditious publications, alongside former editor-in-chief Ryan Law Wai-kwong and five other editorial staff, under the Crimes Ordinance.

The billionaire is also standing trial on two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces for allegedly drawing international sanctions against authorities.

The court debate on Monday centred on how the deadline for filing a sedition complaint should be determined.

Under the Crimes Ordinance, no sedition charge should be filed more than six months after the alleged transgression.

Prosecutors invoked the colonial-era law in Lai's case in December 2021. They argued the offence was a continuing breach of the law and the time limit should be determined based on when the alleged conspiracy had ended.

But Robert Pang Yiu-hung SC, leading a team of five barristers for Lai, said the tycoon's prosecution should have started before October 1, 2019, half a year after he was alleged to have first created seditious content in Apple Daily.

Pang argued that even if the court found the correct deadline to be December 24, 2021 - six months after the cessation of the purported conspiracy - the prosecution was still four days late as it had only presented the sedition charge to a magistrate on December 28 that year.

"The policy is not to let the prosecution [act in such a way as to allow them to] wait and wait and wait and accumulate [evidence for] other acts [before filing a charge]," Pang said.

The senior counsel is expected to further substantiate his side's contentions when the trial continues on Tuesday.

The prosecution, led by Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Anthony Chau Tin-hang, is expected to deliver its opening statement after the court rules on the legal dispute.

Counsel representing three Apple Daily-related companies, also named as defendants in the trial, earlier took a neutral stance in the debate.

Representatives from at least 10 consulates, including the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Switzerland, were present in court, as were two observers from Reporters Sans Frontieres, an international NGO promoting press freedom.

Police were on high alert throughout the day, with uniformed and plain-clothes officers standing guard inside and outside the court building. Director of National Security Kelvin Kong Hok-lai and Chief Superintendent Steve Li Kwai-wah of the National Security Department were seen supervising police operations.

The US and Britain made another plea for Lai's release. US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller slammed the trial of a "pro-democracy advocate" and described it as an act that stifled press freedom and restricted the free flow of information.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said he was "particularly concerned at the politically motivated prosecution of British national" Lai, who he called "a prominent and outspoken journalist and publisher".

The European Union also weighed in, with foreign affairs spokesman Peter Stano saying it deplored the charges against the tycoon and would monitor the trial closely.

In Beijing, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin hit back at the criticism while defending the hearing, accusing the United States and United Kingdom of "gossiping" and "politically manipulating" the trial.

"The central government resolutely supports the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in defending national security by the law and punishing criminal acts that damage national security," Wang said, adding that any smear campaigns intended to disrupt Hong Kong would fail.

The ministry's local arm released its own statement criticising the West.

"The United States and the West put the rule of law on their lips, but use Jimmy Lai's case to destroy Hong Kong's rule of law and judicial independence, providing 'support' to suspects without caring for right and wrong," its spokesman said.

"This is merely another farce of double standards without a bottom line."

Asked to respond to the international community's concerns over Lai's case, Hong Kong leader Lee said he had full confidence in the city's courts, which always adjudicated on cases in a fair and impartial manner. Lee also warned that nobody should interfere with court proceedings or exert pressure on judges.

Additional reporting by Fiona Chow and Natalie Wong

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

Copyright (c) 2023. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.