In Hong Kong, the trial of Jimmy Lai, the boss of the former opposition press group Next Media, continues to extend. Having started at the end of December 2023, the trial has already spanned 54 days, nearing its original 80-day schedule. It is due to resume on April 8 after a 10-day break.
In courtroom number 3 of the ultra-modern West Kowloon courthouse, silk wigs, black and red gowns and the politeness of magistrates preserve the appearance of the rule of law inherited from the British colonists. Yet the statement of Attorney General Anthony Chau, who described Lai as a "radical" and accused him of having used "the pretext of the struggle for freedom and democracy to ask foreign countries, in particular the US, to impose sanctions against Hong Kong," left little doubt as to the outcome of the trial. Since his imprisonment in December 2020, 76-year-old Lai has already been convicted four times, receiving sentences that vary from 13 months to five years and nine months. This time he faces life imprisonment.
In this current trial, the businessman faces two charges of "colluding with foreign forces," under the National Security Law (NSL) promulgated by Beijing in 2020 following the widespread protests that rocked Hong Kong in 2019. Additionally, he faces a third count of "conspiring to print and distribute seditious publications," under a law dating back to the early British colonial era, but which has just been revised and corrected by a new bill, which came into force on March 23.
"My father is simply guilty of being called Jimmy Lai," Sebastien Lai, the son of the former textile and media magnate who chose to go into exile in Taiwan to campaign for his father, told Le Monde. "By attacking him, they want to criminalize journalism, freedom, democracy, and they're doing it at the cost of destroying their legal system."
Jimmy Lai, who has never hidden his visceral anti-communist beliefs, has all the worst qualities of an opponent of the Beijing regime: He's rich, influential and unrepentant. Unlike his six co-defendants, who pleaded guilty at their trial in late 2022 and agreed to testify against him, he pleaded not guilty. He only has a British passport, but the authorities consider him a Hong Konger and refuse to allow the British consulate to visit him.
This trial is considered one of the most important since the introduction of the NSL due to Lai's personality, the opinion-leading role his press group has had in Hong Kong society since its creation in 1995 and the support it enjoys particularly in London and Washington. In early December 2023, another very long trial that resembled a political purge concluded, where 47 opposition members were charged with "conspiracy to subvert" for taking part in a primary ahead of the September 2020 legislative elections. The verdict is due to be announced shortly.
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