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The national security trial of Next Digital founder Jimmy Lai Chee-ying has entered its 146th day, with the judge scheduling the closing submissions on August 14.
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As both the defence and prosecution have completed the submission of evidence, the three judges Esther Toh Lye-ping, Susana Maria D'Almada Remedios, and Alex Lee Wan-tang held a hearing on Tuesday to set a date for the closing argument.
Following discussions, both parties agreed to begin their closing arguments on August 14, with the hearings expected to span eight days.
Regarding the legal documents, Toh requested the prosecution to provide relevant national security cases in other common law jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, to support the charge of collusion with foreign forces endangering national security.
The judge also instructed the prosecution to prepare summaries of all prosecution witness testimonies, while the defense must prepare a summary for Lai.
Both parties were required to submit a detailed chronology of events, listing relevant evidence for each charge, and expected to submit all the legal documents before July 30.
Since today was only a directional hearing, the judge allowed Lai to be absent from the court.
Lai faced a total of three charges: two counts of collusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security and one count of conspiracy to publish seditious publication.
Meanwhile, Lai's three companies linked to the operation of Apple Daily -- namely Apple Daily Limited, Apple Daily Printing Limited and AD Internet Limited -- faced one count of collusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security and one count of conspiracy to publish seditious publication.
