HONGKONG (AP) December,10– A Hong Kong court on Saturday sentenced the pro-democracy media mogul to five years and nine months in prison for his two fraud charges, including a breach of tenancy agreement. It’s the latest in a series of lawsuits against high-profile activists that critics say are aimed at quashing dissent in the city.
Jimmy Lai, who was arrested for cracking down on the city’s pro-democracy movement under Beijing’s imposed national security law after widespread protests in 2019, was also fined HK$2 million (US$257,000). .
His media company, Next Digital, published the now-defunct democratic newspaper Apple Daily. The publication was forced to shut down last year after top officials, editors and journalists were arrested.
In October, Lai was found guilty of fraud for subletting part of his office space to a secretarial firm he managed between 2016 and 2020. The second fraud case involved the use of media house offices by the same company for alleged lease breaches from 1998 to 2015.
A court ruled at the time that the move was against a lease with the Hong Kong Science and Technology Park Authority. In violation, Lai had concealed the fact that the company had occupied the premises within the building.
Judge Stanley Chan said in his sentencing on Saturday that the violations, which he described as “systematic and premeditated,” occurred for more than 20 years and Lai used his media organization as a “protective screen.” used.
He said there was no reason for the court to commutate his sentence because Lai didn’t feel guilty about the action.
Lai’s former colleague Wong Wai-keung, who was convicted of a single fraud charge in the case, faces 21 months in prison, Chan added. Lai’s legal team had previously called on the United Nations to investigate his detention and multiple charges of “legal harassment” and to punish him for speaking out. He had been sentenced to 20 months in prison for the role.
His national security trial, originally scheduled to start on December 1, comes after Hong Kong leader John Lee called on China to effectively ban him from hiring British defenders. Deferred. If convicted, Lai faces life in prison. advertisement
The passage of the security law has resulted in the arrest of many prominent democracy activists in China’s semi-autonomous cities. Hong Kong, a former British colony, returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
Confidence in the future of international financial hubs is also undermined as more and more young professionals respond to shrinking freedoms by moving abroad.
