Hong Kong: Trial of Jimmy Lai, Press Tycoon, Peking Peeper

Text by: Heike Schmidt

In Hong Kong, three veterans of the pro-democracy fight are due to appear on Tuesday in a court of the former British colony: ex-deputies Lee Cheuk-yan, Yeung Sum as well as press magnate Jimmy Lai. The three are accused of having taken part in a prohibited demonstration on August 31, 2019, organized to mark the fifth anniversary of Beijing's refusal to allow elections by universal suffrage. A demonstration which ended in violent clashes between participants and the police. Portrait of Jimmy Lai.

Publicity

Jimmy Lai never had his tongue in his pocket. Xi Jinping, the Chinese Number 1? "  He's a dictator,  " insists the wealthy businessman.

"  I am a troublemaker, but I have a clear conscience  ," he said in an interview with the New York Times in August 2019, a few days before participating in the giant unauthorized demonstration on the streets of Hong Kong.

Hair cut in brush, round face and mischievous smile, this 72 year old man defies the Beijing power since the end of the 1980s.

Born in Canton in mainland China, Jimmy Lai made his fortune with his chain of clothing stores. But the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre changed its fate. He created the publication Next Magazine and, unlike other Hong Kong millionaires, refused to obey the Communist Party's motto "get rich and keep quiet".

His opposition newspaper Apple Daily is today the best supporter of the pro-democracy movement. Jimmy Lai pays the price: the pro-Beijing media regularly call him a secret agent serving the Americans.

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• Hong Kong
• China
• Justice
• Human rights

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