Jimmy Lai renews jurisdiction fight over sedition charge

A Hong Kong court was told that the court only has the jurisdiction to deal with the alleged conspiracy crime against Jimmy Lai Chee-ying between June 14, 2021 and June 24, 2021 – the publishment date of the last piece of the alleged conspiracy article, as the national security trial of Lai continues for a fourth day on Tuesday.

The High Court had ruled earlier that a sedition charge against Lai was laid within the statutory time limit. The decision means Lai, founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper, failed to have his charge of conspiring to print seditious publications dropped.

Representing Lai, senior counsel Robert Pang Yiu-hung, argued today in a new oral submission at the start of court proceedings that the court only has the jurisdiction to deal with the alleged conspiracy crime in the ten days between June 14, 2021 and June 24, 2021, following the court’s ruling last month.

Deputy director of public prosecutions Anthony Chau Tin-hang, in response, said the court has dealt with the issue in its previous ruling and there is no need for further discussion.

One of the three national security judges Esther Toh Lye-ping said the judges would hand down the ruling on Pang’s submission, before the defendants take their plea.

Meanwhile, national security judge Susana Maria D'Almada Remedios also asked about the updates of the opening speech from both sides compared to their previous submitted version on December 29, and said she encountered technical problems when reading through the prosecution’s file.

Chau said a new soft copy of the opening speech only added more hyperlinks to the existing documents, and said his team will go through the submissions during the break to deal with the technical issues.

The prison van carrying Lai arrived at the court building at around 7.45 am today. The scale of police presence was similar to the previous days of trials.

All cars wishing to enter the court building had to go through scanning by police dogs and a portable X-ray scanner. Officers also opened and checked the vehicles’ back seats and trunks.

Around 10 blue boxes, which were believed to be evidence, including some covered by black rubbish bags, were pushed into the courtroom room before the trial began at 10 am.

Lai, in navy suit jacket and a white shirt, looked calm, smiled, waved and nodded to his family when being escorted to the courtroom by correctional officers before the trial. 

Lai’s family – his wife, first and third sons and his daughter – were at the court this morning.