People, holding placards and a poster showing Jimmy Lai, protest against the new national security law, in Taipei, on March 23.
On May 13, Lai’s legal team applied to call the prosecution’s first witness, former Apple Daily publisher Cheung Kim Hung, back to the stand on the grounds that meeting records he mentioned in his testimony were not made known to the defence until his cross-examination in January.Diplomats and civil society groups are closely watching the developments in the landmark trial of Lai, a prominent pro-democracy advocate and long-time critic of China’s Communist Party.
The developments reflect the sensitivities involved in foreign individuals and agencies’ attempts to take part in, monitor or criticise Hong Kong’s legal process.On May 10, it read out reports by City University legal scholar Professor Wang Guiguo, which argued that the United States imposed “severe” sanctions on Hong Kong and mainland Chinese officials based on “highly subjective assessments” of how they had contributed to the perceived erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy.
Among the prosecution witnesses were Apple Daily staff – former publisher Cheung, former associate publisher Chan Pui Man and former editorial writer Yeung Ching Kee, who had each pleaded guilty to a foreign collusion charge. “There’s no other way to deal with now,” Lai told her in a text message, the court heard.Hong Kong court rejects bid to drop sedition charge against Jimmy Lai