Hong Kong court rejects bid to get Jimmy Lai's sedition charge dropped

A court on Friday rejected a bid by Hong Kong media magnate Jimmy Lai's legal team to get one of the charges in his national security trial dismissed, saying the "sedition" charge hadn't exceeded its time limit.

Lai turned up at West Kowloon Magistrates Court on Friday for the third day of his trial wearing a light green sweatshirt and a dark blue jacket, nodding to family and friends from the dock.

But a bid by defense attorney Robert Pang to get the sedition charge dismissed because the prosecution had failed to lay the charge within a six-month window was rejected by the panel of handpicked national security judges and no jury.

Judge Esther Toh said the sedition charge was laid at the West Kowloon Magistrates court on Dec. 14, 2021, 10 days before the time limit would have expired.

Pang had argued that the prosecution accused Lai of committing the offenses for the first time on April 1, 2019, accusing them of eventually changing the sedition charge to add the word "conspiracy," so as to get around the time limit.

Lai's long-awaited trial on two counts of "conspiracy to collude with foreign forces," one count of "collusion with foreign forces" under a draconian national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020, and one of "conspiracy to publish, sell, offer for sale, distribute, display or reproduce seditious publications" under a colonial-era law, got under way on Monday following nearly three years of pretrial detention.

Much of the prosecution's evidence centers on opinion articles published in Lai's now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper. Three former Apple Daily companies are co-defendants.

Decimating freedoms

Beijing imposed the law – which criminalizes public criticism of the authorities – as part of a crackdown on massive pro-democracy protests in 2019, insisting that the move was necessary to quell unrest. Lai has been an outspoken supporter of the pro-democracy movement, and several editors at his former paper are also awaiting sentencing for calling for international sanctions in columns and opinion pieces.

The law, which applies to speech and actions anywhere in the world, criminalizes several broadly defined offenses including secession, subversion, collusion with foreign forces and terrorist activities, all of which carry maximum penalties of life imprisonment. The law has been widely criticized by rights groups and governments for decimating the city's promised rights and freedoms under Chinese rule. Hong Kong’s ranking in the major global rights indices has plummeted.

The case was adjourned to Jan. 2 next year, when the prosecution is expected to begin its opening statements.

The ruling came after the city's High Court rejected an application from Tiananmen vigil organizer and national security detainee Chow Hang-tung for bail.

Judge Andrew Chan denied bail despite Chow's defense lawyer's argument that the now-shuttered Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China – which organized the now-banned annual vigils for victims of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre – had been active for more than 30 years without endangering China, and that Chow was unlikely to represent much of a threat if released on bail.

Chan also told the court that Chow's trial on charges of "inciting subversion" would likely be scheduled for mid-2024, with a case management meeting slated for February.

Barrister Y.L. Cheung also argued that the national security law, as drafted by the standing committee of the National's People's Congress in Beijing, was only intended to target actions that "seriously endanger national security," and not the peaceful expression of ideas and opinions.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie .