Media mogul Jimmy Lai, one of the well-known activists during the 2019 anti-government protests in Hong Kong, was convicted by the city court on Tuesday on two fraud charges.
The court's decision provides an epilogue to the fight for Hong Kong's press freedoms, which were shut following Beijing's sweeping national security law passed three years ago. Lai was detained by Chinese authorities in 2020 and has since served his 20-month sentence for participating in the protests.
He is the founder of Next Digital, which printed the largest pro-democracy paper in Hong Kong, Apple Daily. However, China froze the paper's assets last year, effectively forcing it to shut down. Lai will appeal today's court decision, his company confirmed.
