Pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai’s (黎智英) fraud conviction and prison sentence were yesterday overturned by a Hong Kong court, in a surprise legal decision that comes soon after Lai was jailed for 20 years on a separate national security charge.
Judges Jeremy Poon (潘兆初), Anthea Pang (彭寶琴) and Derek Pang (彭偉昌) said in the judgement that they allowed the appeal from Lai, and another defendant in the case, to proceed, as a lower court judge had “erred.”
“The Court of Appeal gave them leave to appeal against their conviction, allowed their appeals, quashed the convictions and set aside the sentences,” the judges wrote in a press summary of the judgement.
Photo: AFP
Even with the quashing of the fraud conviction and sentence, Lai would remain imprisoned for 20 years in a separate case over two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and one for publishing seditious materials.
That case has drawn global criticism from rights groups and countries including the US and the UK, and served as one of the most high-profile events in a years-long crackdown under Hong Kong’s National Security Law imposed by Beijing after mass democracy protests in 2019.
Yesterday’s legal victory was rare for the prominent China critic who has faced multiple prosecutions in the past few years, and described himself in court as a “political prisoner.”
His son Sebastien Lai (黎崇恩) said that the ruling did not change anything for his 78-year-old father.
“He still has a sentence of 20 years in prison and has spent the last half a decade in solitary confinement in maximum security. The right thing is to release him immediately before it is too late,” Sebastien Lai said.
Jimmy Lai was sentenced in December 2022 to five years and nine months in jail after being found guilty of breaching the lease terms of Apple Daily’s headquarters by concealing the operation of a private company, Dico Consultants Ltd, in the building.
“In conclusion, we hold that Apple Daily Printing did not owe a duty to the Corporation to disclose its breach of the user restrictions or the non-alienation clauses occasioned by Dico’s occupation and use of the said Premises. With respect, the Judge erred,” the judgement read.
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