Trial adjourned for checks on 'shivering' Lai

A judge presiding over the national security trial of Next Digital founder Jimmy Lai Chee-ying has ordered him to undergo a check-up in hospital after the hearing was adjourned due to Lai feeling unwell.

The trial, which entered its 87th day at West Kowloon magistrates' courts, was set to continue with the prosecution playing the remaining nine hours of Lai's interview clips from 2019-2020.

However, when the hearing commenced around 11.35 am yesterday, Lai's lead counsel, senior counsel Robert Pang Yiu-hung, informed the court that his client was sick and shivering.

Despite Lai having seen a doctor on Sunday night and being prescribed painkillers for his pain and fever, Pang applied for Lai to be absent from the day's proceedings so that he could be examined by a doctor again.

Judge Esther Toh Lye-ping declined Pang's application and adjourned the trial until today, saying the court should not continue without Lai's presence.

Toh suggested Lai undergo further medical checks in a hospital, while the prosecution coordinated with the police and Correctional Services Department.

When Toh announced the adjournment, Lai raised his hand in the dock and, after conferring with his lawyers, expressed concern that he was delaying the trial's progress.

Toh scheduled the trial to resume at 11 am today.

Three Correctional Services Department officers then escorted Lai out of the courtroom around 11.40 am, though he was able to walk and wave to the public gallery.