Jimmy Lai, the biggest target in Hong Kong’s crackdown on dissent, will take the stand to defend himself against national security charges that could silence the 76-year-old for the rest of his life.
Foreign governments will be watching as the former titan of Hong Kong’s newspaper industry on Wednesday delivers his first public comments in nearly four years. Since Lai was denied bail and detained in December 2020 for national security crimes under a China-imposed measure, the only words he’s said in court are „not guilty.”
The trial of Lai — essentially for acts of self-expression once openly permitted in the former British colony — resumes one day after judges jailed dozens of prominent former activists, including Joshua Wong, in their most forceful use yet of the Beijing-drafted law. The U.S. and Australian governments condemned the sentences.