To poison young people to break the law and collude with foreign forces! Hong Kong legal profession calls for closure of "Apple Daily"
[Global Times Special Correspondent in Hong Kong, Ye Lan] The National Security Department of Hong Kong Police recently arrested 5 senior members of Next Media.
However, many people in the legal profession in Hong Kong believe that merely arresting some high-level personnel will not solve the problem that Apple Daily may continue to disrupt social order in Hong Kong in the future.
According to a Hong Kong "Sing Tao Daily" report on the 20th, among the 5 suspects, "Apple Daily" President Zhang Jianhong and Chief Editor Luo Weiguang, along with "Apple Daily" Co., Ltd. and other three companies were sued for a "conspiracy to collude with foreign countries or The crime of endangering national security by foreign forces".
The case was presented to the West Kowloon Magistracy on the 19th. The two claimed that they were willing to resign all their positions in Next Media to apply for bail. Zhang Jianhong offered to provide a cash guarantee of 3 million Hong Kong dollars. Luo Weiguang stated that he was willing to accept any bail conditions deemed suitable or relieved by the prosecution by the court. , Including ban on foot etc.
However, Chief Magistrate Su Huide believed that there was no sufficient reason to believe that the two defendants would not continue to commit acts endangering national security, and therefore rejected their application for bail.
The case was postponed to August 13.
The other three defendants, including Zhou Daquan, chief operating officer of Next Media Group, Chen Peimin, vice president of Apple Daily, and Zhang Zhiwei, director of Apple's news platform, were successively released on bail pending investigation on the evening of the 18th and were required to surrender their travel documents.
The operation of Next Media is in trouble.
According to a report by Toutiao Daily on the 20th, after the Security Bureau freezes "Apple Daily" assets of HK$18 million, the company has only enough cash to operate for a few weeks.
Hong Kong’s "Oriental Daily" mentioned on the 20th that Next Media had already had a wave of resignations, and originally arranged for the "Apple Daily" "second echelon" to succeed. However, the deputy editor-in-chief of the interview team Huang Weijun and the political team reporter Xu Weixian resigned in May. Some senior reporters also retired.
The chairman of the board of directors, Ye Yijian, has not seen anyone since the incident, and he is not even sure if he is in Hong Kong or Taiwan. “It further hinders some of the interview work maintained by Apple Daily in the form of purchasing services. In the absence of people and money, one The media’s predicament is even deeper."
The legal profession in Hong Kong generally believes that the crime faced by the "Apple Daily" involves collusion with foreign powers, and the three companies are not individuals and cannot be sentenced to prison. Therefore, they are required to suspend publication in accordance with the National Security Law. Former criminal prosecutor Jiang Leshi stated that according to Article 31 of the Hong Kong National Security Law, if a company is formally convicted under the National Security Law, it will not be able to continue its business, in other words, it will be banned. Practicing barrister Gong Jingyi said that the article involved in the case has been at least a year since 2019, making the nature of the charge more serious; if the "Apple Daily" is allowed to continue to publish after the crime is convicted, only fines will fail to show the country's security. The power of law. The DAB Legislative Council Member Ge Peifan said that if the above three companies are convicted in the future, or their licenses will be revoked and their status as listed companies will be cancelled, the shareholders who hold the shares of Next Media may lose their money by then. Fu Zhenzhong, the convener of the "Apple Fake News and Drug News Monitoring Group", believes that the "Apple Daily" has no way out. For many years, the newspaper has fabricated news under the guise of "freedom of the press", poisoning young people to break the law, anti-state, anti-government, and even Collaborate with foreign forces and support the SAR government to ban it as soon as possible.