Hong Kong’s High Court on Monday upheld media tycoon Jimmy Lai’s right to have a British lawyer for the trial he faces on charges of sedition and collusion with foreign agents.
For the High Court, however, there is no «adequate basis» to approve the Hong Kong government’s request not to allow these professionals to participate in the trial that begins on Thursday, says the ruling, which has been accessed by the Bloomberg agency.
The Department of Justice tried to prohibit the participation of foreign lawyers during this process, after the authorities failed to prevent Timothy Owen from representing Lai in lower courts.
In the event that this legislation cannot be successfully enforced, Beijing could transfer Lai to stand trial in mainland China, which would represent a major blow to the procedural rights of defendants, according to experts.
Lai, who in late October was found guilty of defrauding a government company in an unauthorized deal to lease office space for his defunct tabloid ‘Apple Daily’, already served a 20-month prison sentence for participating in the unauthorized protests in 2018 and 2019.
