00:00This is the first national security case concerning colluding with foreign forces with a defendant pleaded not guilty.
00:09And Jimmy Lai's case has been gaining worldwide attention, not just because of Jimmy Lai's background,
00:15but also because of Beijing's heavy hand and attitude towards Jimmy Lai in the past few years.
00:23So the outcome was not very surprising to the many because in the course of the trials,
00:30we have seen the prosecution has found a lot of facts and speeches of Jimmy Lai and his involvement in the Apple Daily,
00:38in his own media outlet and his public speeches to frame him as a national security criminal.
00:46Rarely did the judges adopt human rights protections and safeguards to defend free speech and free press in Hong Kong,
00:58but rather they heavily relied on the prosecutorial materials as well as the imperatives of national security to convict him.
01:09And many of these materials provided by the prosecution and also illustrated in this verdict were predated the imposition of the NSL in 2020.
01:19So somehow the court also attempted to blur applying the non-retrospective principle in a common law criminal court
01:28and using the pre-NSL facts and evidence to try to form a chain of course of actions.
01:37And it creates uncertainty and ambiguity to what extent the court is still upholding the common law principles in Hong Kong.
01:48But this case has imposed more burdens than guidelines to journalists
01:54because it seems that engaging with foreign actors in live streaming channels, in media reporting could be seen as a crime
02:04if the government deemed such action as a hostile activities or as a form of colluding with foreign forces.
02:11And the overall denotions of colluding with foreign forces in national security law has become confirmed as a tool for foreign media organizations
02:22as well as for journalists, editors, or even outspoken individuals to be cautioned.
02:29That engaging in dialogues or exchange with foreign individuals, especially with those with government backgrounds or official backgrounds
02:39could be easily deemed or trapped by the Hong Kong government as a security threat.
02:46We still have trials against organizers of the annual tenement vigil commemoration next year.
02:54And Joshua Wong and other prominent pro-democracy activists was added a charge of colluding with foreign forces
03:00and this trial has even yet begun.
03:03And it seems the government would still want her to use the court to fulfill its security imperatives.
03:09And that Chile environment will continue, as we observed, even now, citizens helping, citizens engaging in humanitarian support for victims
03:21in a tragic fire in Taipei could be deemed as a potential for threatening national security.
03:30So we see the government is putting everything under its control in the name of security,
03:35and we don't see this as an end, but this is part of a grand project that Beijing wants to reshape Hong Kong.
03:45But in ordinary criminal trials in Hong Kong, judges have full of discretion to impose sentences
03:52after hearing the mitigations of convicted individuals.
03:57And it's important also to see to what extent the court will still have autonomy
04:03to make a more humanitarian or more humane sentencing,
04:08given the conditions of Jimmy Lai was not seen good following many media reports.
04:17We have no clue to what extent his health situation or his medical situation is,
04:24but it seems we will learn more from mitigation and the courts should be able to consider all these factors
04:31and to make a more humane sentencing rather than simply following the law book on punishing him.
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