Hong Kong tycoon Jimmy Lai used Apple Daily ‘headline story’ on ‘exiled’ bookseller to instigate mass rally before 2019 protests, court hears

The publishing mogul had also approached former Hong Kong governor Chris Patten, via a British human rights activist, for comment on what Apple Daily called a “vicious” bill and to urge residents to take to the streets, Cheung said on the 13th day of the national security trial.

During proceedings, defence counsel Steven Kwan Man-wai, said Lai had difficulty keeping pace with the various documentary evidence displayed in court via a digital screen because he had an eye problem.

Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai told staff to run ‘pro-resistance’ stories: trial

“His condition has deteriorated recently after an operation,” the lawyer said, adding that further surgery might follow.

Lai, 76, has denied two conspiracy charges of collusion with foreign forces under the Beijing-imposed national security law, and a third charge of conspiracy to print and distribute seditious publications under colonial-era legislation.

Hong Kong’s Jimmy Lai ‘told Apple Daily to promote resistance’ against government

Cheung and five other Apple Daily senior executives await sentencing after they pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces. He and two others have turned prosecution witnesses in exchange for more lenient sentences.

Prosecutors have alleged Lai was the mastermind of an anti-China conspiracy linked to Apple Daily, where he had complete control over its editorial policies.

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Apple Daily тикон Джимми Лай Хонконгский Крис Паттен книжный продавец протест массовый собрание