Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai has been sentenced to 13 months in jail for participating in a vigil marking for the 1989 Tianamen massacre in Beijing. The sentencing is the latest blow to the city’s democracy movement, which has resulted in dozens of activists being arrested, jailed or fleeing the Chinese-ruled territory since Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law last year.
The 74-year-old was found guilty last week of inciting others to take part in an unlawful assembly. He was among thousands who defied a ban to attend last year’s vigil marking the killings in the Chinese capital. More than two dozen Hong Kong politicians and activists have been charged over the vigil.
On Monday, Lai was one of the eight activists sentenced. They included prominent names like journalist-turned-opposition politician Gwyneth Ho and lawyer Chow Hang Tung. The sentences for the eight range from four-and-a-half months to 14 months. Judge Amanda Woodcock announced the sentences following a mitigation hearing in which Lai’s lawyers presented a handwritten letter he had written from prison.
The former British colony, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997 with the promise of wide-ranging freedoms, traditionally holds the largest 4 June vigil in the world, but police have rejected applications for the past two events, citing coronavirus restrictions.
Critics said authorities used the pandemic restrictions as an excuse to block the commemoration. The city government rejected that.
The judge, Amanda Woodcock, said the defendants “ignored and belittled a genuine public health crisis” and “wrongly and arrogantly believed” in commemorating 4 June rather than protecting the health of the community.
Lai, a 74-year-old media tycoon who is already in jail, the barrister Chow Hang-tung, 36, and activist Gwyneth Ho, 31, received sentences of 13, 12 and six months respectively. They were found guilty by the court on Thursday.
The three, the highest profile of the eight, had pleaded not guilty to all charges.
