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Hong Kong judge rebukes Jimmy Lai for politicising national security trial
Heated exchange unfolds in court as prosecutors grill ex-media boss about his grim predictions for city under the national security law
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A Hong Kong judge has slammed former media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying for politicising his trial after the defendant argued nobody dared to speak the truth under the national security law and that his grim predictions for the city had come to pass.
Another fiery debate ensued at West Kowloon Court on Monday as prosecutors grilled the founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily tabloid newspaper over what they argued were spurious guesses about Hong Kong’s future after the national security law took effect in June 2020.
Madam Justice Esther Toh Lye-ping, one of three presiding High Court judges, reprimanded Lai for levelling gratuitous allegations at prosecutors without giving direct answers to their questions during cross-examination on his 45th day in the witness box.
The 77-year-old defendant is contesting two conspiracy charges of collusion with foreign forces and a third of conspiracy to print and distribute seditious publications in his marathon national security trial.
Prosecutors highlighted four commentary articles Lai wrote for Apple Daily and a live broadcast interview he gave on social media to allege that he intended to incite disaffection towards central and local authorities with a series of unfounded remarks.
In response to prosecutors’ allegations that he had drawn unwarranted comparisons between Hong Kong and Xinjiang in one of the articles, Lai maintained that his grim prediction that the city would lose its freedom and rule of law was not without basis.
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