Detained pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai is set to take the stand for the first time on Wednesday in his high-profile national security trial.
The 76-year-old founder of the shuttered Apple Daily newspaper stands accused of two counts of taking part in a “conspiracy to collude with foreign forces” under Beijing’s security law, and one count of conspiring to publish “seditious” materials under a colonial-era law. He faces up to life in prison if convicted.
As of 7 am on Wednesday, dozens were waiting outside West Kowloon Law Courts Building in the rain for a seat in the public gallery to witness Lai’s testimony. Some had joined the queue on Tuesday afternoon after the sentencing of 45 pro-democracy figures had wrapped in the same courthouse.
Samuel Yin, a 23-year-old who works in food delivery, said he had been unable to get into the main courtroom for Tuesday’s sentencing hearing, which saw prominent legal scholar Benny Tai jailed for 10 years, the longest national security jail sentence to date, over his role in an unofficial primary election the court had ruled as subversive.
Yin said he had arrived at the court at 8 am on Tuesday, and had joined the queue for Lai’s hearing at around 3 pm. He told HKFP he wanted to witness court cases that related to “basic human rights and freedoms.”
“A place without freedom of speech and freedom of the press is depressing,” he said in Cantonese.
In front of Yin was 70-year-old Chiu Mei-ying, who served a three-month sentence last year for sedition.
Chiu was part of an elderly group who became known as “the spectators” for their regular appearances at the public gallery in politics-related court cases.
See also: The elderly Hong Kong democracy advocates following 2019 protest court cases
She was jailed over uttering a “seditious” comment during a court hearing for Tiananmen vigil activist Chow Hang-tung in January 2022.
Chiu said she queued early because she had heard rumours that people were being paid to line up for the public gallery to prevent others from entering.
Chiu’s group was among the first dozen in the queue. “I’m very happy, it’s a small victory,” Chiu said in Cantonese while holding an umbrella that bore the phrase: “Be witness.”
‘Unlawfully and arbitrarily detained’
Lai, whose national security trial began last December after multiple delays, has been detained since December 2020. In December 2022, he was sentenced to five years and nine months in prison for fraud over violating the lease on Apple Daily’s headquarters, and has since been held at a maximum security prison.
Originally estimated to last 80 days, the trial was adjourned in July on the 92nd day of proceedings until Wednesday, when the court will hear from Lai for the first time. The four month delay was due to the availability of the three judges, each handpicked to handle national security cases.
The court heard previously that Lai’s testimony and cross-examination was expected to take three to four weeks.
In recent days, the Hong Kong government has rejected claims made by an international team of lawyers, who said that the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention had found that Lai, who is a British national, was being unlawfully and arbitrarily detained in Hong Kong.
Citing an opinion adopted by the working group dated September 26, King’s Counsel Caoilfhionn Gallagher said it had expressed “alarm” that Lai had been placed in prolonged solitary confinement for almost four years, and urged the Hong Kong authorities to remedy the situation.
“It is a resounding endorsement of what we have said all along: Jimmy Lai is being unlawfully and arbitrarily detained in respect of each and every case brought against him in Hong Kong,” Gallagher, from Doughty Street Chambers in the UK, said.
In statements issued on Sunday, the government said that Lai had had been placed in solitary confinement upon his own request. Individuals in custody may ask to be removed from association with other detainees on the basis of personal safety and well-being. The request is subject to the approval of the correctional services chief.
Hong Kong’s judicial system and trials had been “blatantly discredited” by an international legal team that claimed to represent the Apple Daily founder, the government said on Sunday night, hours after it issued an earlier statement condemning “misleading” comments on Lai’s national security case.
Beijing inserted the national security law into Hong Kong’s mini-constitution in June 2020 following a year of pro-democracy protests and unrest. The legislation criminalised subversion, secession, collusion with foreign forces and terrorist acts, giving police sweeping new powers and leading to hundreds of arrests amid new legal precedents, while dozens of civil society groups disappeared.
The authorities say it restored stability and peace to the city, rejecting criticism from trade partners, the UN and NGOs.
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