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Explainer | Key takeaways from Jimmy Lai’s national security trial and what comes next
After a trial spanning more than 18 months, the Post examines what fate the former media boss could face ahead of his sentencing
Reading Time:5 minutes
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After more than 1,700 days in custody and a trial that spanned more than 1½ years, former media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying is now waiting for a verdict to be delivered in his marathon national security trial.
The 77-year-old businessman turned opposition activist, who founded the now-defunct Apple Daily tabloid, is the most prominent figure yet to be prosecuted under the Beijing-decreed national security law.
Western politicians have repeatedly condemned his prosecution as an attack on press freedom and demanded Lai’s immediate release. Local authorities have dismissed such accusations as blatant attempts to undermine the city’s rule of law.
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In the trial, Lai branded himself a political prisoner and insisted his grim predictions regarding the city’s economic slump and deprivation of residents’ fundamental freedoms had come to pass as Beijing was tightening its grip on the city.
Those comments did not move the three judges hearing his case, with one justice reiterating that Lai was in court “purely for legal reasons”. The judges also stressed they would not be intimidated by “foreign elements” attempting to interfere with their judgment through sanctions.
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The Post recaps the key takeaways from the trial and explains what to expect next.
1. How did prosecutors frame their case?
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