Hong Kong court dismisses tycoon Jimmy Lai's bid to end trial

By Jessie Pang

HONG KONG (Reuters) -A Hong Kong court dismissed on Thursday a bid by the legal team for jailed democrat Jimmy Lai to end his national security trial, saying prosecutors appeared to have sufficient evidence to support all three charges against him.

Lai, 76, the founder of now-shuttered pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, has pleaded not guilty to two charges of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and a lesser charge of conspiracy to publish seditious material.

"Having considered all the submissions we ruled that the first defendant (Lai) has a case to answer on all the charges," said Judge Esther Toh, one of a panel of three national security judges hearing the case.

Beijing imposed the security law on Hong Kong in 2020 after months of pro-democracy protests in the Asian financial hub.

The trial will resume on Nov. 20. Lai has elected to give evidence in court. If convicted, he could face a life sentence.

It was the 92nd day of a high-profile trial begun on Dec. 18 that had initially been expected to last 80 days.

Defence lawyers led by Robert Pang had sought to end the proceedings and seek Lai's acquittal on the ground that there was no case to answer, contending the prosecution's evidence was insufficient.

Pang said an agreement before the national security law would not automatically make it illegal, although the law invalidated earlier legal agreements.

Although there could be evidence of agreement to publish certain articles or work with some organisations, Pang said, there was no evidence of such agreements made after the law was promulgated.

"Whatever was agreed previously, when calling for sanctions was perfectly lawful, was not agreed subsequently," Pang added.

In response to the prosecution's accusation that Lai used the Apple Daily as a platform to conspire, Pang said that newspapers could have a spectrum of differing views, adding "That's a very strange allegation."

Pang said freedom of the press was guaranteed by Hong Kong's mini-constitution, the Basic Law, and the bill of rights ordinance.

Several witnesses mentioned that Apple Daily consulted lawyers on avoiding breaches of the national security law, Pang said, which was "positive evidence" that the agreement was to comply with the law.

The prosecution wrapped up its case in June, having called eight witnesses, among them five defendants who had earlier pleaded guilty.

A British citizen, Lai has been held in solitary confinement for more than three years since December 2020. He is now serving sentence of five years and nine months after being convicted of violating a lease contract for the paper's headquarters.

Britain and the United States have urged Lai's immediate release, calling the case politically motivated. Hong Kong officials have said Lai will get a fair trial.

Both the Chinese and Hong Kong governments said the national security law restored stability in the former British colony.

Western governments have voiced concern that the law is part of Beijing's effort to end dissent and freedoms guaranteed to Hong Kong when Britain handed it to China in 1997.

(Reporting by Jessie Pang; Editing by James Pomfret, Tom Hogue and Raju Gopalakrishnan)