The fraud case against Hong Kong’s Jimmy Lai, a former media executive and democracy activist, has been dismissed.
Hong Kong’s appeals court has overturned fraud charges against former media mogul Jimmy Lai. It was a rare victory for the prominent pro-democracy activist, who is a fierce critic of Beijing and has faced a series of legal battles.
Lai, 78, a critic of China’s ruling Communist Party who founded the defunct Apple Daily, will serve time in prison for he was sentenced 20 weeks ago after being convicted in another case filed under the national security law imposed by China.
He was He was convicted in December of conspiring to cooperate with foreign forces to endanger the security of the country and of conspiring to publish seditious documents, which carried a maximum sentence of life in prison. His sentence was the longest punishment imposed so far since China imposed a national security law in 2020, in fact to silence Hong Kong’s denials.
That comes more than five years after he was arrested under the law, which was used to suppress many Hong Kong activists for years. Her ordeal has sparked outrage over the city’s loss of press freedom and sparked international outrage, although city officials insist her case has nothing to do with media independence.
The charge dropped Thursday stemmed from an earlier fraud case in which prosecutors alleged a consulting firm controlled by Lai used office space leased to his media business for publishing and printing.
Lai was sentenced to five years and nine months in prison in 2022 after being found guilty of two counts of fraud.
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A lower court judge found that Lai and co-defendant Wong Wai-keung had concealed the company’s takeover and breached the lease, saying he used his media organization as cover. He also fined Lai two million Hong Kong dollars ($257,000).
The Court of Appeal judges wrote in their ruling that although Apple Daily Printing violated the terms of the lease by allowing the company to use part of the property, it had no obligation to disclose the violation. They said that even if it was in debt and breached that duty, the same could not be said to be related to Lai and Wong as a matter of law.
The reasons of the judge of the case who concluded that the applicants are guilty of concealment as opposed by the prosecutor cannot be supported,” they said.
They also ruled that the prosecution had failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendants made false statements, overturning both the convictions and sentences.
No defendant appeared in court.
The decision could reduce Lai’s total prison term. The judges presiding over Lai’s national security case allowed the two sentences to run concurrently for just two years, with an additional 18 years added after the fraud conviction.
The government said in a statement that the Ministry of Justice will review the decision and see if it will appeal.
It said that although the Court of Appeal found that the breach of contract did not meet the threshold for a fraud conviction, it did not change the fact that Lai used the office space for illegal personal purposes.
The long sentence has raised concerns that he may spend the rest of his life in prison.
Lai’s children have expressed their hope that US President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing could help secure the release of their British citizen father. The White House has confirmed that Trump will travel to China from March 31 to April 2 to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said Lai had been sentenced to exercise his right to free speech and called on Hong Kong authorities to release him on humanitarian grounds.
Authorities in China and Hong Kong defended Lai’s conviction in the national security case, saying it reflected the spirit of the law. They also emphasized that the security law is necessary for the city to have stability.
