Jimmy Lai, the 76-year-old founder of the now-defunct Hong Kong tabloid Apple Daily, is taking the stand on Wednesday in a national security trial that may see him sentenced to life imprisonment.
He is accused of colluding with foreign forces by using his media platform to oppose the government.
This is his first time testifying in court, even though he has undergone multiple trials since 2020 – all widely seen as politically motivated.
Lai is one of the most influential pro-democracy figures in the city, which has come under an increasingly severe crackdown from Beijing.
His hearing on Wednesday comes one day after the sentencing of 45 pro-democracy campaigners – part of a group known as the Hong Kong 47 – in the city’s largest trial under the national security law.
Lai’s ongoing trial concerns allegations that Apple Daily published articles supporting the pro-democracy protests that rocked the city in 2019, which were seen by Beijing as a threat to national stability.
Lai argued on Wednesday that he opposed violence and that advocating for Hong Kong independence was “too crazy to think about”.
He said that “the core values of Apple Daily are actually the core values of the people of Hong Kong”. These values, he said, include the “rule of law, freedom, pursuit of democracy, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly.”
He said that he joined the media industry to “participate in delivering freedom”.
He faces a sentence up to life imprisonment if convicted of collusion.