HONG KONG – A landmark national security trial for leading China critic Jimmy Lai opened in Hong Kong on Dec 18 amid tight security, with the pro-democracy activist battling charges that he colluded with foreign forces, including the United States.

Queues formed outside the West Kowloon Law Courts Building the night before the much-anticipated trial, with scores of police officers deployed.

Hong Kong’s security chief warned last week that any attempts to disrupt proceedings would not be tolerated.

Lai, the founder of now-shuttered pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily and one of the most prominent Hong Kong critics of China’s Communist Party leadership, has faced a salvo of litigation since a wave of pro-democracy protests in 2019.

The 76-year-old, sporting a crew cut and a grey jacket, appeared calm and thinner than in previous court appearances, smiling and waving to the packed court.

“When fundamental rights are engaged, any protection must be interpreted generously in favour of Mr Lai and narrowly for the prosecution,” Lai’s lawyer, Mr Robert Pang, told High Court justices Esther Toh, Susana D’Almada Remedios and Alex Lee.

Lai has pleaded not guilty to all charges, which could see him jailed for life. He is already serving a five-year, nine-month jail term for a fraud conviction over a lease dispute involving his newspaper.

He was taken to the court building in an armoured prison van. A security cordon was set up around the perimeter with riot police, police vehicles and sniffer dogs.

A lone protester chanting for Lai’s release was fenced off by police about 100m from the courtroom.

“The national security law has destroyed the legal foundations of the past,” said the activist, Ms Alexandra Wong, 67, flanked by six uniformed and plain-clothes police officers.

Other supporters of Lai lined up overnight in the winter chill to secure a spot in the courtroom.

“Lai has been detained in prison for almost three years now. I want to witness this,” said 29-year-old supporter Jolly Chung.

“If he can’t come out and has to die in prison, I hope he can be proud of himself, and many Hong Kongers want to say thank you to him.”

Western democracies, including the United States and Britain, have called on the Chinese authorities to release Lai.

The European Union said Lai’s trial “undermines confidence in the rule of law in Hong Kong and is detrimental to the city’s attractiveness and its position as an international business hub”.

This is a fresh diplomatic flashpoint and a key test for Hong Kong’s judicial independence and freedoms under the sweeping national security law imposed by China in 2020.

Both Hong Kong and Beijing say the security legislation was needed to restore stability to the former British colony.

Beijing also dismissed the criticisms from the US and Britain as smears and interference.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin accused the two countries of double standards and described Lai as an “errand boy of anti-China forces”.

“The United States’ and United Kingdom’s remarks on the case... are in serious violation of the spirit of the rule of law, and... they constitute blatant political manoeuvring,” Mr Wang told a regular news briefing on Dec 18.

Lai and others involved in the trial, including senior journalists at Apple Daily, face a “conspiracy to publish seditious publications” charge, as well as foreign collusion charges that include allegations that they called for the US to impose sanctions against the Hong Kong and Chinese governments between July 2020 and June 2021.

Lai’s ties with prominent US political figures are also expected to be highlighted during the 80-day trial.

At the start of the trial, his lawyer sought to limit the timeframe of the prosecution’s sedition conspiracy charge levelled at Lai and senior staff at Apple Daily to just six months, beginning with an article published in the paper on April 1, 2019.

Imprisoned for more than 1,100 days, Lai has already been convicted in five other cases, including for organising and participating in marches during the 2019 democracy protests. REUTERS, AFP