Yes, that’s right. What case?
The show trial of Jimmy Lai, the former publisher of Hong Kong’s Apple Daily who has been imprisoned for speaking out against the Chinese Communist Party regime, is trundling toward its conclusion. And Lai’s lawyers plan to contend that the prosecution’s evidence is insufficient to justify a conviction.
Senior Counsel Robert Pang “asked the court for time to prepare a ‘no case to answer’ written submission” (“Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai’s lawyers to argue no case to answer at national security trial,” Hong Kong Free Press, May 20, 2024).
The footage from Lai’s media interviews and his talk show, which total about 25 hours and will be played in full at the defence’s request, are expected to take a week before the prosecution closes their case.
Among the clips played on Monday was an interview with Taiwanese media personality Jaw Shaw-kong from May 2020, in which Lai was asked whether he had been under the influence of foreign countries such as the UK and the US.
“I really want foreign countries to influence us…. Their support is the only thing we can hold onto,” he said in Mandarin in a video interview.
“But to say they told us what to do, is that even possible?” Lai added.
With respect to the outcome of the case, which is foreordained, it doesn’t matter whether Lai (shown above) was ever subject to “foreign influence” in any meaningful sense pertaining to any meaningful sense of “national security.” In the above-quoted snippet of the evidence being examined, supposedly, by the judges, Lai made clear that he was happy for any foreign support he could get and that he determined his own editorial policies. But whether Lai will be convicted doesn’t depend on facts or reasonable interpretations bearing on charges about “foreign influence” and whatnot.
There is no case. But the CCP does not need a case. One of the things that the Party regards as justifying imprisonment or other punishment is any opposition to it and any objecting to repressive policies like the National Security Law of 2020. The Party’s assertion and sense of grievance are enough. It doesn’t care about such aspects or components of an actually warranted case as justice, objective criteria, relevant facts.
When he was a free man, did Jimmy Lai prominently criticize the government’s repressive policies? He did. He shouldn’t spend the rest of his life in prison for this. He almost certainly will.
