In a rare moment of good news amidst his ongoing legal battles, Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai has won an appeal against a 2022 fraud conviction. This unexpected victory comes just days after the 78-year-old founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper was sentenced to a staggering 20 years in prison on separate national security charges.
Lai, who has been behind bars since 2020, did not appear in court for the appeal. His original fraud conviction, which carried a sentence of five years and nine months, stemmed from a contractual dispute unrelated to the controversial national security law. Prosecutors had accused him of misusing office space rented by Apple Daily for a personal consultancy firm.
However, the High Court Chief Judge Jeremy Poon ruled that the prosecution “failed to prove that the applicants had made the false representation as alleged,” finding the trial judge’s reasoning “unsupportable.” This decision not only quashed Lai’s conviction and sentence but also cleared former Apple Daily executive Wong Wai-keung, who had already served his 21-month term for the same case.
While this appeal win offers a glimmer of hope, its impact on Lai’s overall prison time is limited. He still faces the daunting 20-year sentence under the Beijing-imposed national security law – the harshest penalty yet under the legislation. Critics worldwide, including the United States and the European Union, have decried this lengthy term as “effectively a death sentence” for the elderly mogul. The Department of Justice is reportedly studying the ruling to consider a further appeal.
