Former Apple Daily executive editor-in-chief Lam Man-chung has appealed his 10-year prison sentence in Hong Kong’s landmark national security case.

Lam’s appeal marks the second such application among the defendants seeking reduced sentences. Last week, Fung Wai-kwong, also known as Lo Fung, a former editorial writer and editor-in-chief of Apple Daily’s English news section, also filed an appeal.

According to court records, the 56-year-old Lam submitted his application last Friday, though no hearing date has yet been scheduled.

Lam and Fung are among eight defendants who pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security, alongside their former boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying.

Lai was sentenced to 20 years in prison after being convicted of two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security and one count of conspiracy to publish seditious publications during a hearing on February 9.

Three companies associated with Apple Daily — Apple Daily Limited, Apple Daily Printing Limited and AD Internet Limited — were fined a total of HK$3,004,500.

However, Lai’s legal team confirmed earlier this week that he will not appeal either his conviction or sentence.

Three former Apple Daily editors — Lam, Fung and former editor-in-chief Ryan Law Wai-kong — each received a one-third sentence reduction to 10 years. The three sentencing judges described the term as the statutory minimum for the serious offense of collusion under the National Security Law.

The remaining five defendants, who served as accomplice witnesses, included former Apple Daily chief executive Cheung Kim-hung, former associate publisher Chan Pui-man, lead editorial writer Yeung Ching-kee, and activists Andy Li Yu-hin and Chan Tsz-wah. They received sentences ranging from six years and three months to seven years and three months.

The judges said their testimony was honest and significant, contributing to the convictions of Lai and other defendants.

Although they were not classified as “supergrasses,” each received sentence reductions of between seven years and nine months and eight years and nine months, depending on their individual circumstances.