Hong Kong sentences pro-democracy activist and media mogul Jimmy Lai to 20 years in prison for conspiracy

Lai, 78 years old and who during the trial declared himself a “political prisoner”has been in prison since August 2020 and according to his family and defense lawyers, his health has deteriorated in recent years, one of the arguments that governments such as the United States and the United Kingdom have used to request his release.

The veteran editor, founder of the Apple Daily, newspaper critical of the Government and closed in 2021 after police raids, he was found guilty of the aforementioned crimes last December, in a trial without a jury that lasted two years and was considered the highest profile since Beijing imposed the National Security Law in 2020.

During the process, the Prosecutor’s Office accused him of articulating from the editorial and corporate structure of Apple Daily a sustained campaign to promote international sanctions against China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, with the ultimate goal of achieve the “collapse” of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The sentence was greeted with shouts from the public in the packed courtroom of the West Kowloon Court, where Lai’s wife, Faya Lya is a way.and retired Cardinal Joseph Zen, as well as consular representatives of Western countries and former employees of the now closed newspaper Apple Daily.

This new sentence places the tycoon’s earliest release date in the year 2044, unless he benefits from a reduction of one-third of the sentence for good behavior.

A large police force surrounded the court area this morning, with controls and searches in which the agents symbolic objects were confiscated such as a stuffed animal of the frog “Pepe”, symbol of the pro-democracy protests of 2019, or a keychain of Apple Dailyaccording to the agency Efe.

Other convictions

They also sat on the bench six former directors of the newspaperwho pleaded guilty in 2022 to collusion in exchange for sentence reductions, and testified against Lai, along with two other activists.

The sentences handed down to these eight people ranged from six to ten years in prison.

The long procedure, started in December 2023, is considered the most relevant judicial milestone since the promulgation of the National Security Law after the massive pro-democracy protests the previous year, which led to hundreds of arrests and the dismantling of critical media and opposition parties.

The high profile of the case has attracted the attention of organizations defending freedom of expression and Western governments such as the United States, whose president, Donald Trumpexpressed “sadness” over the damning verdict, while the Secretary of State, Marco Rubiodemanded Lai’s release for “humanitarian reasons.”

The United Kingdom, the European Union, Canada and Australia have also requested his release, highlighting his dual British nationality.

The Committee to Protect Journalists, for its part, described the process as a “historical farce” that damages Hong Kong’s legacy as a “fortress of the Asian press”, while local authorities defend the neutrality of the courts and accuse external interlocutors of encouraging “interference”.