16th May 2024 – (Hong Kong) Hong Kong’s high-profile national security case involving Next Digital media owner Jimmy Lai and three companies under the group, accused of conspiring with foreign or external forces to endanger national security and publishing seditious materials, continued its trial today (16th) at the West Kowloon Law Courts Building (Temporary High Court). The defence had previously applied to recall Cheung Kim-hung, the former publisher of Apple Daily and CEO of Next Digital, to question him regarding the content of conversations in a chat group on the communication platform Slack. However, the judge ruled today that the defence should have obtained the chat screenshots prior to the trial and rejected their application.
The trial has now entered its 77th day. Earlier, Jimmy Lai had applied to the court to recall Cheung Kim-hung, seeking to question him about the discussions and records of the chat group which he became aware of for the first time while questioning Cheung and were prepared and distributed through Slack. The judge, in ruling on the application today, stated that both the prosecution’s opening statement and the written testimonies of co-defendant witnesses, including Cheung Kim-hung, mentioned the “chat group” matter. Given that Jimmy Lai was involved in the management of the “chat group” and was a member of the relevant Slack group, the defence could not be unaware of its existence.
Furthermore, the judge pointed out that the trial, originally scheduled to commence in 2022, was ultimately postponed and officially began in December 2023. The judge believed that the defense had sufficient time to prepare the case and should have obtained the relevant Slack communication records before the trial. The court considered that the defense could handle the related screenshots during the defense case stage and concluded that rejecting the application would not result in injustice to Jimmy Lai. On the contrary, granting the application would violate the principle of maintaining fairness. Considering these reasons, the court dismissed the defense’s application to recall Cheung Kim-hung as a witness.
Following the defence’s request, the prosecution summoned law enforcement officers to testify. Lai Kwok-yung an officer from the National Security Department, testified that on 11th November, 2021, at around 11am, he went alone to the Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre and distributed a court judgment to Cheung Kim-hung. Cheung read the judgment by himself and spent about 20 minutes examining it before “setting it aside” and appeared to be contemplating something. After about 10 minutes, in an attempt to break the silence, Lai suggested having a chat, and Cheung began talking about his daily life during detention. During the conversation, they did not discuss the matter of Cheung Kim-hung becoming a prosecution witness. They conversed until nearly 3pm, and Cheung suggested that Lai come back the next day since there were usually fewer visitors on weekdays. Li visited Cheung again the following day.
