Lai gets 14mos in jail; hard-won result ‘reeducates HK society’

Hong Kong’s pro-secessionist media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying was sentenced to 12 months and eight months in prison, respectively, for attending and organizing two illegal assemblies in August 2019, a local court announced on Friday, one day after the city’s first celebration of National Security Education Day on Thursday, also amid the collapse of the city’s major pandemocratic group.

Lai has also been charged with another two national security law offenses, including conspiracy to collude with foreign countries or forces to endanger national security, and conspiracy to do one or a series of acts to pervert the course of justice. The case was adjourned until June 15.

Due to organizing the illegal rally on August 18, 2019, Lai was sentenced to 12 months in jail. He was also given 8-month jail term, with two months to be served in installments, for taking part in an illegal march on August 31, 2019. Hong Kong media said Lai will serve a total of 14 months in prison.

Li Xiaobing, an expert on Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, from Nankai University, told the Global Times on Friday that as revising HKSAR’s election system is on the agenda, holding riot leaders’ accountable will boost the confidence of all sectors of HKSAR towards local political development.

Li said that it was not easy to sentence the rioters, because in the name of freedom of speech, people used to be afraid of dealing with these radical political representatives due to a kind of social “correctness,” so it is easy to be lenient and indulgent toward them.

Experts say it is too early to judge how the cases of nationals security offenses will be decided, although the charges are more serious than illegal assembly, because there are few references.

The saga of Lai’s trial and sentence, Li said, is the process of re-education for Hong Kong society. “To make local community aware of the complexity and challenges during the implementation of the ‘one country, two systems’ and the importance of national security,” Li said.