CV NEWS FEED // The long-awaited trial of Catholic Hong Kong journalist and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) critic Jimmy Lai began Monday. If convicted, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.
“Lai has been an outspoken advocate of human rights and democratic freedoms in Hong Kong for years,” noted the Catholic News Agency’s (CNA) Daniel Payne.
“He founded the tabloid Apple Daily in 1995, which took a strong pro-democracy stance in [Hong Kong],” Payne continued.
“Lai smiled and waved at his supporters after he walked into the courtroom,” reported the Associated Press (AP) Monday:
Some members of the public waved at Lai to show their support. Hong Kong’s Roman Catholic Cardinal Joseph Zen, a vocal democracy advocate in the city, and representatives from foreign consulates were among the attendees.
“Before opening statements, Lai’s lawyer Robert Pang, facing the prosecution in court, said the sedition charge his client faced didn’t follow proper legal procedures,” the AP continued.
More specifically, the AP clarified: “Pang argued the law required the prosecution of sedition charges to begin within six months after an alleged offense was committed and that prosecutors failed to do that in Lai’s case.”
As CatholicVote previously reported, Lai’s trial “come[s] almost exactly three years after he was arrested for allegedly violating Hong Kong’s national security law.”
It was originally set for December 2022 but was rescheduled for a year later following multiple delays.
>> LAI IN JAIL FOR NEARLY 3 YEARS <<
“Lai himself was accused of colluding with foreign adversaries and conspiracy to defraud,” Payne added. “The law’s harsh penalties include life in prison for what the government deems sedition or terrorism, including acts such as damaging public transport facilities.”
CNA’s Courtney Mares reported in September that Lai “spends about 23 hours a day in solitary confinement in Hong Kong’s Stanley Prison, a maximum-security facility,” and “is allowed outside to exercise for 50 minutes a day in a small enclosure surrounded by barbed wire.”
“I don’t want to see my father die in jail,” Lai’s son said that same month, per the Associated Press (AP). “He’s 75, he’s in prison, he does risk just dying. It is very worrying.”
>> BISHOPS CALL FOR LAI’S RELEASE FROM PRISON <<
“Mr. Lai’s persecution for supporting pro-democracy causes through his newspaper and in other forums has gone on long enough,” a group of bishops from around the world wrote last month.
“There is no place for such cruelty and oppression in a territory that claims to uphold the rule of law and respect the right to freedom of expression,” they stated.
