Jimmy Lai goes on trial for intimidating journalist

Next Digital founder Jimmy Lai Chee-ying went on trial today accused of intimidating a reporter three years ago during a June 4 Vigil in Victoria Park. He has pleaded not guilty.

The reporter, identified in court as X, said he was reporting the June 4 vigil in 2017 and had been assigned to follow Lai.

X told Magistrate May Chung Ming-sun of the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Court that he found Lai at about 7:00pm that night, and also found Lai and Democratic Party founder Martin Lee Chu-ming in Victoria Park.

X said he started taking photos of the two with a distance of around seven meters between them, but that Lai  “glared with anger” two to three times. 

Shortly after the vigil ended, X put down his camera and took a break, but Lai suddenly appeared in front of him and scolded him, pointing a finger and using offensive language.

X quoted Lai as saying: “I will find someone to give you trouble, stop taking photographs of me while being so close to me, I am telling you, I already took a photo of you.”

“We are only half-a-meter apart, and I was dumbfounded. I replied that I and my colleagues will not do it again, as I believed Lai has further actions that can harm me,” X told the court.

X also said Lai was near him, and he was also worried that he would be assaulted by Lai, get slapped in the face, or pushed by Lai. X said he filed a police report after he ended his shift.

Two video clips were played before the court, which shows Lai staring at the camera, and another one, filmed by X’s colleague, showed Lai pointing at X’s face, shouting in foul language.

X said he experienced insomnia after the incident, and has to take medication after consulting a psychologist and psychiatrist. He also refrained from working on news related to Lai although he remained in the same position in the media company.

As Lai said he has taken photos of X, the reporter also said he is worried that someone could hurt him.

Later in the afternoon session, X admitted that he joined the "special task force" in 2013 and led the group two years later, which consisted of about 8 members in the group.

The group’s main responsibility was to follow Lai, which includes waiting outside Lai's apartment. When Lai steps out, they follow him in a vehicle, and carry out filming and reporting duties.

X admitted that he had written news stories about Lai entering the clinic for medical treatment, having meals with others, participating in parades and assemblies, and even entering and exiting the airport, but X emphasized that he would only follow him to the door without entering.

Senior Counsel Peter Duncan, representing Lai, pointed out that reporters from the newspaper had continued to follow Lai from 2013 to 2017, which X admitted to.

X also admitted that his team might have followed Lai’s family members, "I may have done so if I had mistakenly assumed that Lai was in the car.”

X also confessed that there is a chance that his team might get too close to Lai if they have to “compete” with other reporters for the best filming position, which led to an article published in 2014, saying that Lai left the apartment for a doctor, and injured reporters while driving on the way without paying attention. 

Duncan asked X if he, as a reporter, knew that being close to the interviewee would be dangerous. X responded that if the distance is enough to cause danger to others, it is a violation of professional ethics, but did not comment on whether the reporter came too close to Lai in the June Fourth Vigil.

Lai, 72, was charged with one count of criminal intimidation, as he was accused of intimidating X at Victoria Park.