HK duo admits to foreign collusion in case linked to Apple Daily founder
First such pleas since city's national security law was imposed last year
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Two men, one caught while trying to flee to Taiwan, yesterday pleaded guilty to charges of foreign collusion under Hong Kong's national security law - the first such pleas since the law was imposed in June last year.
Activist Andy Li, 30, and legal assistant Chan Tsz Wah, 29, admitted in the High Court to being part of a conspiracy to breach national security under instructions from Apple Daily founder and tycoon Jimmy Lai, 73, between July last year and this February.
The two men admitted to organising global campaigns that called on foreign governments to sanction Chinese officials.
The prosecution said Li had organised crowdfunding, as well as engaged in international lobbying calling on countries to condemn China, the Hong Kong government and the city's police.
Li also asked for sanctions to be imposed on China and the Hong Kong government under instructions from Lai and his right-hand man Mark Simon. The instructions were passed on by Chan, the prosecution said.
The United States subsequently sanctioned dozens of mainland and Hong Kong officials including Chief Executive Carrie Lam, Secretary for Security Chris Tang and director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office Xia Baolong, for what it said amounted to a crackdown on Hong Kong's democracy and freedoms.
The court yesterday heard Li's apology: "I agree with the facts and I would like to say sorry."
He was one of 12 Hong Kongers caught by the Guangdong coast guard in August last year as they tried to flee the city by speedboat.
He served a seven-month sentence on the mainland before being sent back to Hong Kong in March.
The pair face a maximum punishment of life imprisonment.
So far, more than 130 individuals, including activists and former lawmakers, have been arrested under the security law, which criminalises subversion, secession, terrorism and colluding with foreign forces.
The now-defunct tabloid Apple Daily's then editor-in-chief Ryan Law, and publisher Cheung Kim Hung are accused of conspiring with Lai and others to get foreign forces to impose sanctions or a blockade, or engage in other hostile activities against Hong Kong or China.
Lai, who is now in remand for involvement in illegal protests, faces other national security charges linked to collusion with foreign powers.
Last month, the court sentenced former waiter Tong Ying Kit to nine years in prison in the city's first national security trial. He was convicted of incitement to secession and engaging in terrorist activities for driving a motorcycle into a group of police while carrying a protest banner.
Separately, the police yesterday laid charges against four student union members of the University of Hong Kong for advocating terrorism - the first time this specific offence under the security law imposed last year has been applied.
The four, aged 18 to 20, face one count each.
They were among more than 30 students who took part in a July 7 tribute to "express deep sadness" and to "appreciate his sacrifice to Hong Kong" for the death of 50-year-old Leung Kin Fai, who stabbed a police officer from behind before stabbing himself.
