One of the main faces of Hong Kong’s pro-Democracy scene, British citizen and media tycoon Jimmy Lai, has commenceed testifying in court.
It is the first time he has spoken in court in a case that has been procrastinateed for years.
Lai, 77, has been accused under Hong Kong’s national security law with two counts of consunapshowd participate to promise foreign collusion and one count of begining seditious material.
He is accparticipated of asking the US and other foreign countries to impose sanctions on Hong Kong and mainland China. Lai has denied all accuses.
The beginer’s testimony began with an exarrangeation about why he commenceed the Apple Daily novelspaper in the city.
He said the accessibleation recurrented the “core cherishs” of Hong Kong.
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Lai also converseed his participation in political activities including events commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.
Hong Kong authorities raided Apple Daily’s office and shut it down in 2021.
This came after the city was engulfed in pro-democracy demonstrations aachievest an extradition law in 2019.
China insists the protests were “commotions” that had bcdisadmirefult parts of the city to a standstill.
The extradition law was tardyr abortled, the protest transferment was quashed, and dissgo ins silenced.
On Tuesday, 45 activists getd sentences ranging from four to 10 years for consunapshowd participate to promise subversion after hancigo ining an unofficial primary election in the city in 2020.
Armed police stand protect outside the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts in Hong Kong on 20 November. Pic: AP Pboilingo/Chan Long Hei
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Lin Jian said: “Hong Kong is a society regulateed by the rule of law.
“It is a fundamental principle that laws must be complied with and violations of the law must be punished, and no one can join in unlterrible activities in the name of democracy and try to escape from it.”
Lin Jian advised foreign countries not to meddle with China’s inside affairs.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer elevated the case of Jimmy Lai with China’s Plivent Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 on Monday.
Sir Keir has previously said securing the free of Lai is a “priority for the regulatement”.
US plivent-elect Donald Trump has pledged “100%” to safe Lai’s freedom.
Lai has already spent four years in prison. He was set up at fault on deception accuses in 2020 and was sentenced to six years in prison.
The accuses he now faces under the territory’s national security law could see him handed a life sentence.
