HONG KONG: A Hong Kong court on Friday (Dec 22) rejected a bid by the legal team for pro-democracy tycoon Jimmy Lai to have a sedition charge against him dropped, in a closely watched national security trial.
The trial began on Monday for Lai, who is charged with “collusion” with foreign forces under a Beijing-imposed national security law, a charge that carries a potential life sentence.
He is also accused of “conspiracy to produce seditious publications” – a colonial-era offence that has been revived after decades of disuse – which is considered a lesser charge as it carries a shorter jail sentence if convicted.
His lawyers earlier argued that the sedition charge should be tossed out as the prosecution began too late, beyond the six-month time limit stipulated by Hong Kong law.
Lawyer Robert Pang pointed out that Lai was only taken to court and officially charged on Dec 28, 2021 – four days after the deadline.
The three government-appointed judges in the trial – Esther Toh, Susana D’Almada Remedios and Alex Lee – said a time limit did not apply as the conspiracy was “a continuing offence and therefore the time limitation did not start to run until after the last date of the alleged conspiracy”.
“The court ruled that the prosecution of the sedition charge against the defendants was not time-barred,” the judges said in a summary of their judgement.
“Therefore, the Court had jurisdiction to try the defendants on the sedition charge.”
According to the prosecution, Lai and Apple Daily published a total of 161 seditious articles between Apr 1, 2019 and Jun 24, 2021 – until the newspaper ceased publication following a police raid, a freeze on its assets and arrests of former staff crippled its operations.
The case has been adjourned to Jan 2, when prosecutors are expected to make opening arguments. The trial is expected to last 80 days.
Source: CNA
