SW News: Prominent pro-democracy activist, philanthropist and media mogul Jimmy Lai was given yet another prison sentence of five years and nine months by a Hong Kong court on Saturday, December 10. The court found him guilty of fraud in a row over a contract.
A Catholic, Lai was the founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper, which supported democracy. He had recently completed a 20-month prison term after being sentenced under multiple charges for taking part in agitations and unauthorized assemblies.
Lai is going to face another trial on national security charges and if found guilty, he could receive life imprisonment. The latest lawsuit is about how one of his firms flouted the terms of the lease agreement of his newspaper’s office. It was in October that the philanthropist and his newspaper executive were found guilty of fraud.
As per prosecutors, Lai had operated a consultancy company for his own use and it had occupied the office space of Apple Daily, which was actually meant for printing and publishing the newspaper. Prosecutors said that a consultancy firm Lai operated for his personal use had taken up office space that Apple Daily had rented for the purposes of publication and printing.
They alleged that it flouted the terms of the lease deed the daily had inked with a government firm and that it was nothing but a fraud. His lawyers had argued that the case should have been treated as a civil lawsuit rather than a criminal prosecution.
Apart from the jail sentence, Lai was penalized with a fine of HK$2 million ($257,000) and prevented from controlling the affairs of firms for eight years.
By targeting pro-democracy supporters and Beijing critics in Hong Kong such as Lai and Cardinal Joseph Zen, the Chinese government is driving the final nail into the coffin of civil liberties and free speech in the city.