By Jessie Pang and James Pomfret
HONG KONG, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Hong Kong's High Court will on Monday hear the mitigation plea of pro-democracy tycoon Jimmy Lai, the final step before sentencing in a landmark national security trial that has drawn international condemnation and could see Lai jailed for life.
Lai, 78, was last month found guilty of two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces under a China-imposed national security law, and conspiracy to publish seditious material, in a verdict
that was criticised by the U.S., Britain, the European Union and others. Lai has denied all charges.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the verdict showed "the enforcement of Beijing's laws to silence those who seek to protect freedom of speech and other fundamental rights."
Lai, a longstanding critic of the Chinese Communist Party and founder of the now shuttered pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper, is the most high-profile figure to face prosecution under a years-long national security crackdown in the China-ruled city following mass pro-democracy protests in 2019.
The judges wrote that Lai had used his influence and the Apple Daily tabloid "to carry out a consistent campaign with a view to undermine the legitimacy or authority" of China and Hong Kong.
They added that Lai's evidence was at times "contradictory, inconsistent, evasive and unreliable".
Eight other defendants have pleaded guilty. Five of them have become prosecution witnesses, including Cheung Kim-hung, former CEO of Lai's once-listed company, Next Digital; Apple Daily's former associate publisher Chan Pui-man; and former editorial writer Yeung Ching-kee.
The mitigation hearings for all the defendants start at 10 a.m. (0200 GMT) and are expected to last four days. Sentencing will take place at a later date.
Dozens of people have been queuing outside the court building since Friday, hoping to see Lai and other defendants. They have stayed overnight and slept on the street with blankets and cardboard.
“It feels like the end of the road for my former colleagues. At least now they know where the finish line is, however long it may take,” sobbed a woman who gave her name as Ling, 47, who has been queuing since Friday and has been visiting her colleagues in prison.
“As for Mr. Lai, he knew exactly what path he was choosing. I think it brings him some comfort that we can finally enter the main courtroom in the days ahead.”
Lai, a British citizen, has been held in solitary confinement for more than 1,800 days, with two of his children warning his health had deteriorated and if he died in prison it would cause "irreparable damage to Hong Kong's reputation."
U.S. President Donald Trump said in an interview this month he had asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to release Lai, whom he called a "positive activist", but hadn't yet heard back from Xi.
Five experts appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council have also called for Lai's release on humanitarian grounds, saying his conviction showed a "dramatic decline in fundamental freedoms and judicial independence".
Hong Kong authorities say Lai has been given a fair trial and the national security law has brought stability.
(Reporting by Jessie Pang and James Pomfret; Editing by Kate Mayberry and Lincoln Feast)
