"Long a thorn in the side of Beijing, Lai, a 78-year-old media tycoon and activist, was a primary target of the most recent and definitive crackdown on Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement. Authorities cast him as a traitor and a criminal. Lai's trial was one of the last unfinished national security prosecutions of Hong Kong's high profile activists, over their involvement in the 2019 protests."
"On Monday the court found him guilty of all charges, with the government-appointed judges saying he had harboured his hatred and resentment for the [People's Republic of China] for many of his adult years, and sought the downfall of its ruling Communist party even though the ultimate cost was the sacrifice of the people of the PRC [People's Republic of China] and HKSAR [Hong Kong Special Administrative Region]."
"On Monday, a Hong Kong court convicted Jimmy Lai of national security offences, the end to a landmark trial for the city and its hobbled protest movement. The verdict was expected. Long a thorn in the side of Beijing, Lai, a 78-year-old media tycoon and activist, was a primary target of the most recent and definitive crackdown on Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement. Authorities cast him as a traitor and a criminal."
Jimmy Lai, a 78-year-old media tycoon and activist, was convicted in Hong Kong on one count of conspiracy to publish seditious publications and two counts of conspiracy to foreign collusion. Lai had pleaded not guilty to all charges. Government-appointed judges found him guilty and said he had harboured hatred and resentment for the People’s Republic of China for many adult years and had sought the downfall of its ruling Communist party despite the cost to the people of the PRC and HKSAR. The trial stretched nearly two years with delays, legal challenges and government interventions. Hundreds of activists, lawyers and politicians have been pursued, jailed, or forced into exile amid a definitive crackdown on the pro-democracy movement.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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