Jimmy Lai trial: Hong Kong activist told to flee to Taiwan, then UK after receiving bail in 2020, court hears
- Activist turned prosecution witness Andy Li tells media mogul’s defence lawyers about unsuccessful escape attempt to Taiwan in late August 2020
- Li also agrees with defence’s argument that he did not receive any instruction from Lai or his associates in relation to his work for opposition lobbying groups
A key prosecution witness in Hong Kong tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying’s trial has said he was instructed to flee to Taiwan by boat and find his way to the United Kingdom following his arrest under the Beijing-imposed national security law four years ago.
Apple Daily founder Lai, 76, has denied two conspiracy charges of collusion with foreign forces and a third of conspiracy to print and distribute seditious publications.
Li became a prosecution witness after pleading guilty to conspiracy to collude with foreign forces in 2021.
He was a core member of the “Fight for Freedom, Stand with Hong Kong” (SWHK) lobbying group, which prosecutors alleged was sponsored by Lai to trigger sanctions and other hostile acts against Hong Kong and mainland China.
Li told West Kowloon Court that the original plan was for him to surrender himself in Taiwan before hitchhiking to the Czech Republic upon his release, as it was expected his arrival at the former would coincide with a visit by a Czech official.
“It was said that there would be a Czech delegation to Taiwan, so I might be able to make it to the [delegation’s return] flight to the Czech Republic,” he said.
The activist was told to “find a way to go to London” after landing in Prague, the court heard.
The activist confirmed Corlett’s remarks.
Prosecutors earlier argued Chan was the middleman linking up the activist with Lai and relaying the latter’s instructions to further the tycoon’s anti-China conspiracy.
Li confirmed the defence’s claim that he was instructed to go to Tseung Kwan O on August 18 and was moved from one “safe house” to another while he took steps to avoid being tracked.
He also agreed he was told to take a Taiwan-bound speedboat in the early hours of August 23 and that his personal information had been sent in advance to the Mainland Affairs Council, Taiwan’s top cross-strait policy planner.
But the activist said he was unsure whether those instructions came from Chan or other allies.
Hong Kong activist ‘never took money’ from Jimmy Lai during lobbying effort
“Because at the time my suspicion was that I might have been labelled a political enemy by Beijing, so the regime would arrest and charge me by any means,” he told the court.
Two of three judges hearing the trial focused their questions on how Li managed to accumulate more than HK$4 million (US$510,600) in savings before switching to political activism.
The activist said he had worked as a software programmer for nearly a decade by 2019, adding he had received no money from IPAC for his volunteer work.
Prosecutors are expected to call Chan, who pleaded guilty to the same conspiracy charge targeting Li, as a witness when the trial resumes on Friday.
