Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, a former media tycoon, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in the first-ever collusion case, receiving the longest jail term since Beijing’s imposition of the National Security Law in Hong Kong.
Lai, together with six senior executives of Apple Daily, two activists from the political group Stand With Hong Kong, and three Apple Daily companies, received their sentence and penalties from the three designated National Security Law judges at the West Kowloon Law Courts Building on Monday morning.
Three out of the six senior staff of the now-defunct Apple Daily testified against Lai for commutation, including editorial writer Yeung Ching-kee, who was sentenced to seven years and three months, associate publisher Chan Pui-man, who received seven years of jail time, and CEO Cheung Kim-hung, who was sentenced to 6 years and nine months. Editor-in-Chief Ryan Law Wai-Kwong, executive editor-in-chief Lam-chung, and editorial writer Fung Wai-kong all received 10 years of jail time.
The two former activists of Stand with Hong Kong, Chan Tsz-wah and Andy Li Yu-hin, also testified against Lai and provided key evidence for Lai’s conviction, according to the court, and received a shortened sentence of six years three months and seven years three months, respectively. The three companies, Apple Daily Limited, Apple Daily Printing Limited, and Apple Daily Internet Limited, were fined HK$9.01 million in total.
Police increased security near the West Kowloon Courts Building this morning, with more than 50 officers patrolling the area, and more than a dozen vehicles were deployed and stationed around the block.
Police officers put up barricades and fences surrounding the sidewalks of the building, also zoning off the queueing areas, and urged journalists not to interview people who were in line. Journalists with a media pass could stay in a designated area, while others were denied entry.
Family members of the defendants, Western diplomats, and consulate members also showed up at the court at around 9 am.
Steven Li Kwai-wah, Chief Superintendent of the National Security Department of the Police Force, welcomed the heavy sentence from the court, and said that the court’s decision demonstrated Lai´s offence is “very serious in nature”. He added that in Lai´s mitigation plea, his poor health condition was exaggerated and that the court had already granted special leniency on his sentence.
“Obviously, he has done nothing good for Hong Kong that could serve as a basis for his application for leniency”, Li said. “The shortened sentence of the defendants who testified for the prosecution demonstrated the function of Article 33 of the SNSO,” Li added.
When asked whether today’s sentence marked the end of this landmark trial, Li said that the Force is still investigating some matters of the case, but he could not disclose more information about their investigation.
Many government officials issued statements in favour of the court’s verdict. The city’s leader, John Lee Ka-chiu, commented that “revenge is sweet” and that the sentence is a showcase of the rule of law.
Lai, 78, was convicted of two conspiracy counts of collusion with foreign forces and one conspiracy count of printing and distributing seditious material in December last year. The earliest Lai could be released is 2044, and he would be 96 years old.
“I was disappointed that the court never considered Apple Daily’s over 30 years of contribution to Hong Kong in the sentences, and even more upset that the three less senior executives got 10 years when they were only in charge of the newspaper’s daily operations,” said Ronson Chan Long-sing, former chairperson of the Hong Kong Journalism Association.
When asked about the city’s journalism outlook, Chan said, “It all changed when Stand News and Apple Daily were raided and charged. I remember vividly, for an entire month afterwards, no media outlet or columnist dared criticise the government, until Ta Kung Pao finally did.”
“The political atmosphere was already grim after the NSL. The sentence is just adding insult to injury,” he added.
A Shroffed reporter has reached out to the Foreign Correspondents Club; it had no comment on the sentences given out on Monday.