Pro-democracy Hong Kong tycoon Jimmy Lai was sentenced on Saturday to five years and nine months in prison for fraud, convicted of violating a lease contract for the headquarters of a liberal newspaper he used to run.
Lai, 75, was found guilty of two counts of fraud for covering up the operations of a private company, Dico Consultants Ltd, at the headquarters of the now shuttered Apple Daily newspaper, in what was ruled a breach of its land lease.
A judge said Lai, found guilty of illegally subletting office space in October, felt no remorse. The 75-year-old recently served time for taking part in a banned vigil last year for victims of China’s 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.
His son stressed it was “disappointing” the UK was not doing more to help Lai, who holds British nationality.
In a separate statement, Sebastian Lai said his father had done nothing wrong and had already spent time in prison for “standing up for human rights”.
Lai faces the prospect of life behind bars due to a separate trial on national security charges.
Those proceedings had been due to begin on 1 December but were postponed at the request of Hong Kong leader John Lee Ka-chiu.
China has enforced its wide-ranging national security law on the city of Hong Kong, making it easier to prosecute protesters.
The law has led to the arrests of many prominent democracy activists.
Hong Kong, a former British colony, returned to China’s rule in 1997.
As well as being sentenced to five years and nine months, Lai was fined 2m Hong Kong dollars (£209,535).
The leader of Mr Lai’s international legal team, Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC, said Lai was the victim of “lawfare”.
She said the multiple cases were “all designed to silence and discredit [Lai] and send a clear message to others that they should not dare to criticise the Chinese or Hong Kong authorities”.
