EU Parliament resolution condemns Lai conviction
An overwhelming majority in the European Parliament has passed an urgent resolution condemning Jimmy Lai’s conviction and reiterating its call for his immediate and unconditional release (22 January)
Jimmy Lai is a 78-year-old publisher, writer, and pro-democracy campaigner who has been imprisoned in Hong Kong since December 2020.
His lawyer, Caoilfhionn Gallager KC, said his arrest, detention and convictions had been widely condemned internationally, including by multiple states and by United Nations experts (both the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, and five Special Rapporteurs).
On 15 December he was convicted under Hong Kong's National Security Law and he now awaits sentencing.
The EU resolution stresses that Lai is being held “under life-threatening conditions” in breach of China’s international legal obligations, and that his “arbitrary prosecution exemplifies the systematic use of state security laws to eliminate independent media, free speech and political opposition in Hong Kong”.
It warns China that, if he is sentenced to a lengthy prison term, there will be “severe consequences for EU-China relations”.
MEPs who contributed included Miriam Lexmann, Engin Eroglu, Marius Kaminsky MEP, and Markéta Gregorová, while 503 MEPs voted for the resolution.
Values
In a statement, his lawyer Caoilfhionn Gallager KC said: “The European Union’s aims, enshrined in article 3 of the Lisbon Treaty, include upholding and promoting its values and interests in its relations with the wider world, and ensuring strict observance of international law and the protection of human rights.
“The Hong Kong authorities’ treatment of Jimmy Lai over the past five years flies in the face of these European values.
"He has been wrongly arrested and arbitrarily detained; he has faced a barrage of lawsuits persecuting him for exercising rights protected under international law; his newspaper has been shut down; he has endured life-threatening prison conditions; he has been through a protracted show trial on trumped-up charges resulting in an unfair conviction, and he now faces life imprisonment.
Gallagher thanked all MEPs who used their voices to demand an end to the “politically motivated persecution of this elderly, frail man, before it is too late”.