Hong Kong tycoon Jimmy Lai jailed over five years on fraud charge - Reuters

HONG KONG, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Pro-democracy Hong Kong tycoon Jimmy Lai was sentenced connected Saturday to 5 years and 9 months successful situation for fraud, convicted of violating a lease declaration for the office of a wide paper helium utilized to run.

Lai, 75, was recovered blameworthy of 2 counts of fraud for covering up the operations of a backstage company, Dico Consultants Ltd, astatine the office of the present shuttered Apple Daily newspaper, successful what was ruled a breach of its onshore lease.

Lai's sentencing drew U.S. condemnation.

Hong Kong's astir salient China critic, Lai has been down bars since December 2020 and has served 20 months for unauthorised assemblies.

He was the caput of Next Digital, the genitor institution of Apple Daily that unopen down successful June 2021 aft a constabulary raid.

Another Next Digital executive, Wong Wai-keung, 61, was recovered blameworthy of fraud and jailed for 21 months.

District Court Judge Stanley Chan wrote successful a judgement that Lai had "acted nether the protective umbrella of a media organization". Chan said this prosecution of a media tycoon "wasn't equivalent to an onslaught connected property freedom."

The justice deducted 3 months from his condemnation arsenic Lai had acknowledged overmuch of the prosecution's case.

Western governments including the United States person expressed interest astir Lai's plight and denounced what they telephone a broader deterioration successful extortion for quality rights and cardinal freedoms nether a China-imposed National Security Law.

"The United States condemns the grossly unjust result of Jimmy Lai’s latest proceedings sentencing," U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said successful a statement.

"By immoderate nonsubjective measure, this effect is neither just nor just. We erstwhile again telephone connected PRC authorities to respect state of expression, including for the press, successful Hong Kong," helium added.

Calling for Lai's release, Maya Wang, an Asia manager with the New York-based advocacy radical Human Rights Watch, said: "Beijing's elaborate transgression lawsuit against Jimmy Lai is simply a vendetta against a starring proponent of ideology and media state successful Hong Kong."

Prosecutors said that nether the newspaper's lease conditions connected a crippled of authorities onshore successful a subject park, the spot could lone beryllium utilized for "publishing and printing" without anterior support from the operator.

Chan issued an bid preventing Lai from becoming a manager of immoderate institution for 8 years and fined him HK$2 cardinal ($260,000).

Lai's lawyer, Derek Chan, had urged the justice to see Lai's property and contributions to Hong Kong's media industry.

A separate, landmark nationalist information proceedings involving Lai is scheduled to resume connected Tuesday. It was delayed portion Beijing decides connected the arguable contented of whether foreign lawyers, including Lai's British barrister Timothy Owen, should beryllium allowed to enactment connected nationalist information cases.

($1 = 7.7854 Hong Kong dollars)

Reporting by Jessie Pang and James Pomfret; Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick successful Washinton; Editing by William Mallard and Daniel Wallis

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