Hong Kong freezes assets of pro-democracy press boss Jimmy Lai
Jimmy Lai, June 16, 2020 in Hong Kong.
Anthony Wallace AFP / Archivos
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
Almost a year after the introduction of the national security law, local authorities in Hong Kong froze the assets of famous press magnate Jimmy Lai on Friday, May 14.
He is currently serving a prison sentence for participating in unauthorized marches.
Publicity
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With our correspondent in Hong Kong
,
Florence De Changy
Local Hong Kong authorities announced on Friday that they had frozen the assets of
famous press magnate Jimmy Lai
.
Not only his holdings in his news group, Next Digital, but also the money held in three accounts, opened in local banks and linked to businesses the businessman owns.
This decision comes as the Chinese authorities are engaged in a strong takeover of Hong Kong and a few weeks before the first anniversary of
the adoption of a draconian national security law
, imposed by Beijing on June 30 following numerous protests. and riots that took place during the summer and fall of 2019.
► To read: Jimmy Lai: "The national security law signs the death sentence of Hong Kong"
In total, all the sums frozen would correspond to 500 million Hong Kong dollars (about 60 million euros), according to the
South China Morning Post
.
Jimmy Lai owns 70% of the shares of his press group which publishes the
very popular
Apple Daily
.
"Incitement to hatred"
Hong Kong Police Commissioner Chris Tang last month accused
Apple Daily
of
"
inciting hatred
".
Attacks that he did not justify but which were interpreted as a sign that the days of this title are numbered.
For his part, the boss of the group, Cheung Kim-hung, affirmed that this operation on the assets of Jimmy Lai would not affect the functioning of the newspaper.
The press mogul is currently serving
a fourteen-month prison sentence
for his participation in unauthorized marches in 2019. He is also awaiting several other trials, including for "
collusion with foreign powers
", one of the four crimes covered by national security law punishable by life imprisonment.
The 73-year-old billionaire
has long irritated Beijing
over its newspapers' support for the pro-democracy movement behind massive protests in 2019.
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