Former executives of the now-defunct Apple Daily pleaded for lighter sentences as the mitigation hearings for Jimmy Lai Chee-ying and the other defendants entered the second day.

Five co-defendants have pleaded in mitigation on Tuesday, including Apple Daily's former associate publisher Chan Pui-man, former editor-in-chief Ryan Law Wai-kwong, former executive editor-in-chief Lam Man-chung, former editorial writer and editor-in-chief of the English news section Fung Wai-kong (also known as Lo Fung) and former lead editorial writer Yeung Ching-kee (Li Ping).

They have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security with their ex-boss, Lai.

​The 78-year-old Next Digital founder, Lai, along with three associated companies, was found guilty of two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces under the national security law, and conspiracy to publish seditious material last month. 

The defence lawyer representing Chan suggested that the sentencing starting point be put at 10 years, referring to the national security cases over legal scholar Benny Tai Yiu-ting as well as former Polytechnic University student Lui Sai-yu. Stating Chan's limited role and feeling regretted in the case, the lawyer asked for her sentence to be halved.

Chan is said to be not able to leave her job casually during the material time as she was suffering serious health issues and was under financial burden, according to the mitigation letters submitted by her family members, colledges and friends.

The defense stated that Chan, as associate publisher, had less time for editorial work and had repeatedly opposed editorial directions proposed by Lai, including the content of Lai's interview programs and columns. Chan was also said to be responsible for the print edition and did not participate in more influential content such as the online edition.

As for the mitigation for Lam Man-chung, his lawyer said Lam was only responsible for the print edition of the Chinese version of Apple Daily and was not responsible for the English or online versions. 

The lawyer suggested referring to the Ma Chun-man case -- the second man convicted under the National Security Law for inciting secession -- to define Lam's conduct.

Separately, the lawyer representing Ryan Law suggested that the court consider the guilty plea of Law and reduce his sentence.

After hearing the mitigation arguments from the 12 defendants over two consecutive days, the three designated national security judges said they would arrange a sentencing date at a later date and would notify both the prosecution and defense as soon as possible.