 |
| Media tycoon Jimmy Lai was jailed earlier this year to participate in pro-democracy protests in 2020. (File photo by=Getty Images) |
[Asia News = Reporter Reakkana] Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai has been sentenced to 13 months in jail for participating in a vigil marking the 1989 Tiananmen massacre in Beijing. The BBC said that the 74-year-old was found guilty of inciting others in an unlawful assembly last week.
He’s among thousands who defied a ban to attend last year's vigil marking the killings in the Chinese capital. More than two dozen Hong Kong politicians and activists have been charged over the vigil. Lai was one of eight activists sentenced on Monday. They included prominent names like journalist-turned-opposition politician Gwyneth Ho and lawyer Chow Hang Tung. The sentences for the eight range from four-and-a-half months to 14 months. Judge Amanda Woodcock announced the penalties following a mitigation hearing in which Lai's lawyers presented a handwritten letter he had written from prison.
In the letter, Lai said he was willing to suffer the penalties of his decision. Lai, who is already serving a prison sentence for an earlier charge, will perform his latest correction concurrently. The tycoon faces other charges - some under a sweeping national security law imposed last year, which can carry a maximum term of life in prison. Meanwhile, the ban on the vigil continued this year and saw a more muted protest.
