(Note the language in paragraph 26 that some readers may find 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 for the first time in a national security tribunal that accuses him of endangering China’s national security by colluding with foreign forces.
First arrested under national security laws in August 2020, Lai, 76, has been held in solitary confinement since December 2020. He also faces sedition charges related to Apple’s (NASDAQ:) daily newspaper.
Prosecutors have accused Lai of collusion with foreign forces, such as meetings with US officials in Washington when President Donald Trump called for sanctions against Chinese and Hong Kong officials.
Lai pleaded not guilty to two charges of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and one charge of conspiracy to publish seditious material.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
The trial is widely seen as an important national security case after Beijing introduced sweeping security laws in Asia’s financial center in 2020, following months of pro-democracy protests in 2019.
Lai, a longtime critic of the Chinese Communist Party, is one of the most high-profile figures to face prosecution under the law.
Hong Kong’s former colonial rulers Britain and the United States have condemned the court and called for Lai’s immediate release. Hong Kong officials say Lai will receive a fair trial.
WHAT DOES PROSECUTION MEAN IN ENGLISH?
Prosecutor Anthony Chau described Lai as a “radical” and said he was at the center of a conspiracy to conspire with foreign forces and publish seditious material in Apple Daily.
The court heard that one example of Lai’s collusion was the meetings held in July 2019 with the vice president of the US President Donald Trump, Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo when the pro-democracy and pro-democracy protests of the Hong Kong masses were increasing. .
In Wednesday’s testimony, Lai said he never sought to influence the foreign policy of other countries, such as the United States, toward China and Hong Kong.
“I dare not ask the vice president (Pence) to do anything. I will only tell him what is happening in Hong Kong when he asks,” Lai said.
On Thursday, Lai said he was against violence and refused to incite hatred against Chinese and Hong Kong authorities in an article he had written.
“Everything I say in this article is a true reflection of the reality I feel,” Lai said on Friday. “And true thoughts from my heart, without enmity or seditious intent. And this is for all other articles.”
He added, “For the truth is in the kingdom of God, and that is enough for me.”
Who is associated with the prosecution of LAI?
Prosecutors listed Lai’s agents and intermediaries, including Paul Wolfowitz, former US deputy defense secretary, James Cunningham, former US consul general in Hong Kong, and Benedict Rogers (NYSE: ), founder of rights group Hong Kong Watch.
Commenting from outside Hong Kong, Cunningham and Rogers said Lai’s interactions were legitimate and normal activities.
Prosecutors also said they had identified a syndicate led by Lai, which they said included activists, her aides, human rights campaigners, the Japanese women’s congress and US financiers.
The prosecution’s case says that these people contacted Australia, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Portugal and the United States, to impose sanctions or other hostile actions against Hong Kong and China.
Prosecutors described Lai as “the mastermind and financial backer of the highest-level command of the syndicate”.
However, Lai said he has never donated money to political parties abroad or in Taiwan. He added that he only donates money to US thinktanks and religious groups.
One count of collusion accuses Lai of having ties to a prosecution group called “Stand With Hong Kong Fight For Freedom” (SWHK), which it says lobbies the country for sanctions against China and Hong Kong.
Mark Simon, Lai’s aide and a US citizen, carried out instructions and reviewed requests for financial support, according to prosecutors.
But Andy Li, a key prosecution witness with ties to SWHK, who had spent seven months in a Chinese prison before the trial, said in cross-examination on April 10 that he had never met or contacted Lai.
He had never received any money from Lai, or from any entity he believed to be associated with, he said.
Prosecutors also accused Lai of using Apple Daily as a platform to conspire with three subsidiaries, six former executives with ties to the newspaper, and staff member Mark Simon and others to conspire with foreign forces.
However, Lai said he rarely gave instructions or coverage directions to the newsroom. He declined to ask former Apple Daily associate publisher Chan Pui-man to compile a “nonsense list” of Hong Kong officials who should be sanctioned.
Cheung Kim-hung, former CEO of parent company Apple Daily Next (LON:) Digital, told the court Lai ordered to call people to participate in protests in 2019, and to impose sanctions on Hong Kong and Chinese officials.
Cheung refused to be asked by the police to be a prosecution witness while in custody.
