Hong Kong tycoon and democracy activist given 5-year sentence on fraud charges
Since Hong Kong was handed from British to Chinese rule in 1997, there has been growing concern about the city’s judicial independence.If Beijing steps in, it will be another blow to procedural rights for defendants of the national security law, said Thomas Kellogg, executive director of the Center for Asian Law at Georgetown University.
“We’ve seen in a number of cases, including Jimmy Lai’s case, of people being denied their right to bail,” he said, adding that Hong Kong’s policy of only allowing certain designated judges to rule in national security law cases “further compromises their overall right to a fair trial.” Maya Wang, associate Asia director at Human Rights Watch, urged the authorities to drop the case against Lai and “free him immediately.”
“Beijing’s elaborate criminal case against Jimmy Lai is a vendetta against a leading proponent of democracy and media freedom in Hong Kong,” Wang said. Ned Price, a U.S. State Department spokesman, in an earlier statement condemned the verdict in Lai’s fraud case, describing the charges as “spurious.”“Efforts to stifle press freedom and restrict the free flow of information undermine Hong Kong’s democratic institutions and hurt Hong Kong’s credibility as a business and financial hub,” Price added.
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