Pro-democracy publisher Jimmy Lai testified for the first time in his national security trial in Hong Kong on Wednesday.
The 77-year-old British national is standing trial on charges of collusion with foreign forces and sedition. Lai rejects the charges, but if convicted, he could face life in prison.
Foreign governments and rights groups have condemned the case as politically motivated.
In testimony, Lai told the court that his guiding principles were aligned through his newspaper, Apple Daily, with the people of Hong Kong. “We were always in support of movements for freedom,” he said.
Speaking about why he founded his media empire, Lai said, “The more information you have, the more you are in the know, the more you’re free.”
The pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily shuttered in 2021 after 26 years.
Lai’s trial began in December 2023 and had been estimated to last for about 80 days. It is being heard by judges selected by the leader of Hong Kong, rather than a jury, and had been adjourned since July. Lai has been in solitary confinement since late 2020.
Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC, the head of Lai’s international legal team, estimates that the trial will continue into 2025.
“This is a trial which should never have happened in the first place,” Gallagher told VOA. “He shouldn’t spend a second more in prison. He should be immediately and unconditionally released.”
During the trial, prosecutors alleged that Lai had requested the United States to impose sanctions or “engage in other hostile activities” on the Hong Kong and Chinese governments.
Prosecutors cited 2019 meetings between Lai and then-U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to discuss the political situation in Hong Kong.
Under oath on Wednesday, Lai said he didn’t ask anything specific of Pence.
“I would not dare to ask the vice president to do anything. I would just relay to him what happened in Hong Kong when he asked me,” Lai told the court.
With Pompeo, Lai said he asked him “not to do something but to say something,” Lai said. “To voice … support for Hong Kong.”
Lai knew that he would eventually be arrested, according to his son, but instead of fleeing Hong Kong, he decided to stay to stand up for press freedom.
“My father’s a strong man, mentally and spiritually. He wouldn’t be doing what he’s doing otherwise,” Lai’s son Sebastien told VOA.
Sebastien Lai said he’s concerned about his father’s physical and mental health after years of solitary confinement. Lai regularly spends over 23 hours per day in solitary confinement, with only 50 minutes for exercise, according to his international legal team.
The international legal team says Jimmy Lai is denied specialized medical care for diabetes.
“I don’t know what these inhumane conditions have done to him throughout all the years,” Sebastien said.
In a more than 700-word statement, a Hong Kong government spokesperson said it was “inappropriate” to comment on the case because legal proceedings are ongoing.
The spokesperson said that Hong Kong “rejected any fact-twisting remarks and baseless smears against the legal system and safeguarding of rights and freedom in Hong Kong.”
In the statement, the spokesperson also claimed that Lai himself requested to be placed in solitary confinement.
In response to that claim, Sebastien Lai said, “The idea that he asked to spend four years in solitary in those appalling conditions is insane.
“But if they’re really in request-granting mode, they could always grant his request to be released,” Sebastien Lai added.
Last month, a Hong Kong government spokesperson rejected what they described as “unreasonable smears” that Lai is not receiving adequate medical care.
The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention determined last week that Lai is unlawfully and arbitrarily detained in Hong Kong and has called for his immediate release.
“Now the Hong Kong court has to grapple with whether they want to essentially keep this sham trial going and prosecute this person who’s done all that he had to defend freedom and democracy,” the younger Lai told VOA.
“It’s not a good look for any court — especially not a court in Hong Kong that claims to safeguard free speech and the rule of law,” he said.
Last month, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called for the publisher to be freed. Rights groups have also consistently called for his release.
Jimmy Lai’s plight underscores the quick downfall of press freedom and broader civil liberties in Hong Kong since Beijing’s national security law was enacted in 2020, experts say.
The resumption of Lai’s trial comes just one day after 45 pro-democracy activists were sentenced under the national security law in Hong Kong.
“The world is watching Hong Kong this week,” Gallagher told VOA.
