The national security trial of pro-democracy Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai was pushed to September 2023 by a court on Tuesday, as authorities seek to have his overseas lawyer barred from the defence.
Lai, the 75-year-old founder of the now-shuttered Apple Daily newspaper, is facing up to life in prison for “colluding with foreign forces”, a crime under the security law Beijing imposed on Hong Kong to quash huge democracy protests in 2019.
The trial was meant to start this month but has been delayed by months of legal wrangling over who can represent him.
Hong Kong allows lawyers from common law jurisdictions to work in its courts if they have specialities, one of its key appeals as an international legal and business hub.
Lai wants to be defended by veteran British lawyer Tim Owen but the government has opposed foreign representation for national security trials.
Three levels of Hong Kong judges have backed Lai’s choice and ruled repeatedly against the government.
But Hong Kong authorities have now asked Beijing to intervene and decide once and for all whether foreign lawyers can take part in national security cases.
On Tuesday, leading national security prosecutor Anthony Chau told the High Court that Beijing had yet to respond to that request.
The three judges agreed to an adjournment and pushed the trial start to 25 September, 2023.
Lai is already in jail serving a string of convictions related to his involvement in protests.
On Saturday, he received another 69 months of jail after being convicted of fraud in a contract dispute with a government agency.
His lawyer Owen has now left Hong Kong after immigration authorities refused to extend his working visa.
The national security charges against Lai largely revolve around the coverage and content of his Apple Daily newspaper which supported the 2019 democracy protests as well as international sanctions against Chinese and Hong Kong officials.
The law has transformed Hong Kong.
Most of the city’s prominent democracy activists have been jailed, fled overseas or fallen silent.
It has also been used against media outlets that were critical of the government.
In a separate court hearing on Tuesday, journalist Chung Pui-kuen was released on bail after 11 months in pre-trial custody.
Chung was the chief editor of the now shuttered Stand News online outlet.
He and colleague Patrick Lam are being prosecuted for conspiring to publish “seditious publications”.
