Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai sentenced to 69 months in prison on fraud charge - CNN

Hong Kong CNN  — 

A Hong Kong tribunal connected Saturday sentenced jailed media mogul Jimmy Lai to 5 years and 9 months successful situation for fraud, successful the latest ineligible situation against the pro-democracy tycoon.

Lai was recovered to person breached the presumption of lease for the office of his present defunct Apple Daily paper aft concealing the cognition of a consultancy that provided firm secretarial services to backstage firms Lai controlled.

Along with the jailhouse sentence, Lai was besides fined 2 cardinal Hong Kong dollars ($257,000) and disqualified arsenic a institution manager for 8 years.

Wong Wai Keung, the manager of medication of Apple Daily’s genitor institution Next Digital and a co-defendant, was sentenced to 21 months successful jail.

In October, Lai and Wong were some convicted of fraud by the aforesaid court. Both pleaded not guilty.

Lai, who has been remanded successful custody for astir 2 years, is besides facing a proceedings nether Hong Kong’s sweeping nationalist information law.

Since the information instrumentality was imposed by Beijing successful 2020, successful effect to monolithic anti-government protests, authorities person cracked down connected dissent.

Activists, protesters and journalists person been jailed, civilian nine crippled, and a fig of autarkic quality outlets shuttered.

Lai, 74, is 1 of the astir high-profile critics of Beijing charged nether the instrumentality and faces a maximum condemnation of beingness successful situation connected charges of colluding with overseas forces. He besides faces 1 complaint nether a colonial-era sedition law, and was sentenced to 13 months successful situation successful 2021 for participating successful an unauthorized protest.

His pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily was among the newspapers forced to unopen down since the implementation of the law, aft constabulary raided the newsroom and authorities froze its assets.

The Hong Kong authorities has repeatedly denied disapproval that the instrumentality has stifled freedoms, claiming alternatively it has restored bid successful the metropolis aft the 2019 protests.

Hong Kong, a erstwhile British colony that was handed implicit to Chinese regularisation successful 1997, continues to usage the communal instrumentality strategy it inherited from Britain.

Its autarkic judiciary and regularisation of instrumentality person agelong been deemed cardinal to the city’s occurrence arsenic a planetary fiscal halfway – though galore ineligible experts person expressed misgivings since the instauration of the information law, including 2 British judges who resigned earlier this year, saying the metropolis had “departed from values of governmental freedom.”

The city’s ineligible strategy typically allows overseas judges successful the city’s courts, and lawyers from different communal instrumentality jurisdictions tin enactment connected cases wherever their expertise is needed.

However, cases nether the nationalist information instrumentality are handled by a dedicated subdivision of the Hong Kong constabulary and designated nationalist information judges, raising interest astir Beijing’s imaginable power connected proceedings.

Lai has besides been astatine the halfway of this debate. In November, Hong Kong’s highest tribunal upheld a verdict to let a British barrister to correspond the tycoon successful his nationalist information case. The city’s Chief Executive John Lee has since said helium volition inquire Beijing to find whether overseas lawyers tin enactment connected nationalist information cases.