Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai during an interview in Hong Kong on July 1, 2020. The case has now been adjourned until November, when Lai will testify for the first time in his defence.Vincent Yu/The Associated Press
Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai will take to the stand later this year in a national security trial against him, after judges on Thursday rejected a bid by his legal team to have the case thrown out.
More than 90 days into a marathon trial against the 76-year-old former Apple Daily publisher, Mr. Lai’s lawyers had argued Wednesday that all evidence presented by the prosecution predated a 2020 law under which Mr. Lai has been charged. They said he never breached the law and therefore had no case to answer.
But a panel of three national security judges rejected this gambit, saying there was sufficient evidence for the case to proceed. If found guilty, Mr. Lai could face life in prison.
The case has now been adjourned until November, when Mr. Lai will testify for the first time in his defence. This process alone could take up to four weeks, his lawyers said, pushing the trial – originally scheduled to take 80 days – into its third year.
The case against Mr. Lai is one of the most high-profile brought under a national security law imposed on Hong Kong by Beijing in 2020, following months of anti-government unrest the year before.
During the 2019 protests, Mr. Lai – a long-time pro-democracy campaigner – advocated for international sanctions against Hong Kong and China, both in the pages of Apple Daily and by leaning on connections in Washington and elsewhere. He also provided limited support to a protester-led publicity campaign that paid for ads in foreign newspapers, including The Globe and Mail.
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No one disagrees this behaviour was legal prior to the security law, which only applies to “acts committed after its entry into force.” The principle against retroactive criminality is also protected by both Hong Kong and international law.
Prosecutors argue Mr. Lai is guilty of a criminal conspiracy that began before the security law came into force but continued beyond June 30, 2020.
Robert Pang, Mr. Lai’s lawyer, said this was false, arguing Wednesday that Mr. Lai never advocated for sanctions once doing so was illegal.
All the government has been able to describe in months of testimony, Mr. Pang said, was an agreement between Mr. Lai and others “to do something that was lawful,” with “not a hint of evidence” they intended to breach the security law.
While judges at times appeared sympathetic to Mr. Pang’s point, they disagreed with him that there was no case to answer, clearing the way for the trial to proceed.