Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai, founder of the now-closed pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper, was sentenced to a new five years and nine months in prison on Saturday on charges of fraud in a contract dispute.
The 75-year-old businessman, one of the best-known figures in the pro-democracy movement in China’s semi-autonomous city, was recently sentenced to a total of 20 months in prison for participating in protests and meetings.
He is also facing a possible life sentence in an upcoming case on national security charges.
Contrary to previous sentences linked to the massive pro-democracy protests in the city in 2019, the latest case is due to violation of the terms of the lease of newspaper offices, which were closed after a police operation.
According to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, a consulting firm owned by Jimmy Lai also used the space in the newsroom of the Apple Daily newspaper, although the lease stated that this use was for editorial purposes only.
District Judge Stanley Chan found Lai and another Apple Daily executive guilty of a “planned, organized and multi-year” plot, but the length of the sentence has not been released so far.
The judge described it as a “simple fraud case” and completely cut him off from politics or freedom of speech. “They have nothing to do with politics,” he said.
Defense lawyers argued that the case should be handled in a civil complaint, not in a criminal complaint, and emphasized that the field used by the consulting company was very little.
source: Noticias
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