National security law: Hong Kong tycoon Jimmy Lai’s trial further adjourned to September 2023, pending possible Beijing legal review
- Apple Daily founder returned before three judges on Tuesday, as prosecutors sought second postponement
- Bench casts doubt on whether China’s top legislative body will heed local administration’s interpretation request
The national security trial of Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying has been pushed back to September next year after the High Court acknowledged Beijing has yet to determine whether he can be defended by an overseas lawyer of his choice.
The founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper returned before three judges at the Court of First Instance on Tuesday, as prosecutors sought a second postponement to a date in early 2023. Lai’s lawyers argued for an adjournment until the second half of next year, noting London-based King’s Counsel Timothy Owen, whom Lai wants to lead the defence, would be engaged in separate criminal proceedings in mid-2023.
The bench agreed to move the start of the trial but said a short adjournment would not be sufficient given the uncertainties over Beijing’s interpretation.
“We sincerely hope that there will be no further change as far as the trial date is concerned,” Mr Justice Alex Lee Wan-tang said, adding that relisting the trial for early next year would cause great difficulties to the court in arranging cases.
Madam Justice Esther Toh Lye-ping also said a short adjournment to the trial would entail many uncertainties, especially when the interpretation hung in the balance.
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The court, also presided over by Madam Justice Susana D’Almada Remedios, accepted the defence’s suggestion and rescheduled the trial for late September.
Prosecutors had objected to Lai’s decision to hire Owen, arguing overseas lawyers should be barred from national security law cases given the sensitive nature of the evidence involved. After the top court upheld his right to choice of counsel, city leader John Lee Ka-chiu asked the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee to intervene, but they are only due to hold their next meeting late this month.
Adding to the court’s concerns over timing, the bench said another three judges were set to oversee a separate trial from January involving some of 47 opposition figures facing subversion charges over an unofficial legislative primary election in 2020. Only a handful of judges, hand-picked by the city’s leader, can hear national security law cases.
The High Court on Tuesday cast doubt on whether the standing committee would agree to the local administration’s request to interpret the national security law, with a judge noting the matter had reportedly been left off the agenda for the meetings between December 27 and 30.
On Tuesday, lead prosecutor Anthony Chau Tin-hang insisted his team had observed “positive representations” by central authorities in response to the chief executive’s request.
But Senior Counsel Robert Pang Yiu-hung, leading the defence, expressed doubt over that contention and suggested the standing committee would probably give “advice” to the city instead of interpreting the law.
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Chau had asked for the trial to begin before May 2023, saying further delays might prejudice a number of “witnesses” who had been convicted – the earliest in August last year.
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Lai, 75, won permission from the High Court’s chief judge in October to hire Owen to defend him against charges of collusion with foreign forces.
The Court of Final Appeal dismissed the justice secretary’s last-ditch attempt last month to overturn the lower court’s ruling allowing the representation, prompting the chief executive to ask the apex legislative body to clarify the Beijing-decreed legislation.
The Immigration Department has withheld Owen’s application for an extension of his working visa, but the British barrister can still appear in a 100-day criminal trial scheduled to start in May 2023.
Lai was jailed for five years and nine months on Saturday on fraud charges stemming from his improper use of Apple Daily’s offices. The tycoon has spent most of the past two years in incarceration, having been denied bail in December 2020.
