HONG KONG — AHong Kongappeals court on Thursday overturnedJimmy Lai's 2022fraud convictionand sentencing in a rare legal victory for the pro-democracy activist.
Lai, 78, a media tycoon and longtime critic of China's ruling Communist Party, remains in prison under a20-year sentencehe received this month in a separate national security case.
Though the national security case was the biggest one against Lai, he has faced multiple prosecutions that critics say are part of a broader effort to stamp out dissent in the Chinese territory, a former British colony, after mass pro-democracy protests in 2019.
Lai, a British citizen, had been servingfive years and nine monthsin jail after being found guilty in October 2022 of violating the lease forApple Daily, his now-defunct pro-democracy tabloid, by concealing the fact that he was operating a consulting firm on the premises.
Co-defendant Wong Wai-keung, a former senior executive at Apple Daily's parent company Next Digital, was also convicted and sentenced to 21 months in prison. Both had pleaded not guilty.
"Upon their applications, the Court of Appeal gave them leave to appeal against conviction, allowed their appeals, quashed the convictions and set aside the sentences," Judges Jeremy Poon, Anthea Pang and Derek Pang wrote in a press summary of their ruling.
The judges said prosecutors had failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the defendants had made false representations. It was not immediately clear whether prosecutors would appeal the ruling.
Advertisement
In the national security case, Lai wasfound guilty in Decemberof two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces under thenational security law, which Beijing imposed in 2020 saying it was necessary to restore stability after the protests. He was also found guilty of one count of publishing seditious materials under colonial-era legislation.
The three judges in that case described Lai as the "mastermind" of a conspiracy to lobby foreign governments to impose sanctions, blockades or other hostile measures againstChinaand Hong Kong.
Lai was also previouslysentenced to prisonover his role in unauthorized assemblies during the 2019 protests, as well as an unauthorized vigil in 2020 for victims of the 1989Tiananmen Squarecrackdown.
The U.S. and other Western governments have criticized the prosecutions of Lai as politically motivated, and PresidentDonald Trumphas previously vowed to secure his release. The issue could come up when Trump meets with PresidentXi Jinpingin China during a three-day trip the White House says will start March 31.
Lai's family has expressed concern about his health and said the 20-year sentence could mean he dies in prison. His daughter Claire Lai was House SpeakerMike Johnson's guest at Trump'sState of the Unionaddress on Tuesday.
"Jimmy Lai has devoted his career to championing democracy in Hong Kong, steadfastly fighting for the freedoms we too often take for granted in America," Johnson said in a statement. "Today, however, he sits in a Chinese prison cell for simply defending free speech and speaking out against the totalitarian repression of the Chinese Communist Party."
The Hong Kong government says Lai received a fair trial and that he has received appropriate medical care while in custody.