(Exclusive) Jimmy Lai to seek court permission to leave Hong Kong

Media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, who is on bail for allegedly intimidating a reporter at the Victoria Park in Causeway Bay on June 4, 2017, will apply for variation of bail conditions at the High Court tomorrow so he can leave Hong Kong.

He has pleaded not guilty to a count of criminal intimidation and a trial is scheduled to begin on August 18. As part of his bail conditions, he is not allowed to leave Hong Kong.

On May 22, Lai applied at the High Court to remove the condition of barring him from leaving Hong Kong, but he withdrew the application.

Judge Alex Lee Wan-tang said Lai did not provide the court confirmed travel plans and it is difficult for the court to remove the condition. Meanwhile, a condition requiring him to report to the police was removed, after the prosecution did not object to it.

Since the anti-extradition bill protests began, the police have arrested nearly 9,000 people and 2,000 people have been prosecuted and brought to court.

But after the National People's Congress approved plan to impose national security law for Hong Kong, some defendants have jumped bail and absconded to countries such as the U.S. and the Netherlands.

"I think it depends on seriousness of offenses, especially under the present law bail should normally granted because there is a presumption of innocence. However in serious cases, the courts can impose strict conditions like surrendering all traveling documents," Cheng Huan, SC, told Headline Daily, the sister paper of The Standard.

"The courts can always impose the condition of not leaving Hong Kong and I think it’s quite a common condition nowadays. The courts can impose condition of surety, for example, from parents if they are young defendants," he said.

Meanwhile, sources said convener of the Hong Kong Independence Union, Wayne Chan Ka-kui, 30, has escaped to the Netherlands after jumping bail while facing an illegal assembly charge in protests on June 10 last year. He has not reported to the police since June 4.

Yesterday, a 22-year-old accused of storming the Legislative Council chamber on July 1 last year with others did not appear at the Eastern Magistrates' Courts, and an arrest warrant was issued. The defendants in the cases are now also facing rioting charges.

Two out of three people who were issued summons over the incident also did not appear in court yesterday. One of them, Brian Leung Kai-ping, former chief editor of Hong Kong University Student Union's Undergrad magazine, had told the media previously that he is in the U.S..