Next Digital Media founder Jimmy Lai and three companies of “Apple Daily” were accused of conspiring to collude with foreign forces. The trial entered the 11th day. The prosecution summoned former “Apple Daily” president Cheung Kim-hung to testify. Cheung Kim-hung described that the 2014 Occupy Central movement became a watershed for Apple Daily, pointing out that Jimmy Lai has since been actively involved in the editorial operations of Apple. During the anti-extradition demonstrations in 2019, Jimmy Lai advocated for calling on citizens to demonstrate through “Apple Daily,” and asking for the attention or sanctions from Western democracies. He referred to Jimmy Lai as the “top leader” of his company, “I am responsible for executing the instructions of Jimmy Lai and the board of directors.”

Cheung Kim-hung testified as an accomplice witness for the prosecution on the first day. He was escorted to the court by three correctional officers. He sat between the lawyer’s table and the court clerk. He wore a dark blue jacket and a blue checkered shirt and held an oath on a Bible. Cheung elaborated on Jimmy Lai’s role in “Apple Daily”, saying that Lai had “very little participation” in the operation of “Apple Daily” before the Occupy Central movement in 2014. “The image of “Apple Daily” at that time was more like paparazzi and entertainment.” Starting around the time of Occupy Central in 2014, “Apple Daily” began to call on citizens to take to the streets to demonstrate, such as calling for universal suffrage and opposing the (one country, two systems) white paper, etc. Jimmy Lai also actively began to participate in the editorial work of “Apple Daily” and the Occupied Central, ” I remember there was a Chinese song adapted from Les Miserables, and Mr. Lai himself sang one or two lines.”

Cheung Kim-hung described that Apple Daily became “a newspaper that is anti-government and against the central government” thereafter. When the government planned to amend the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance in 2019, Cheung Kim-hung said that Jimmy Lai had emphasized that the amendment would “infringe on the democracy, freedom, and human rights of Hong Kong people. He felt that the central government wanted to send disobedient Hong Kong people and “thorns in the eye” of the central government back to the mainland.” Therefore, Jimmy Lai issued “editorial instructions” between 2019 and 2020, advocating for using “Apple Daily” to call on citizens to demonstrate and call on Western democratic countries to pay attention, and even using sanctions to “make them (mainland and Hong Kong officials) not dare to mess around.” He said that Jimmy Lai “very actively participated in the decision-making and operation of the entire group” from 2018 to 2020. He also pointed out that Lai gave clear guidance on the operation of the English version and would also introduce “writers” to the English version through his personal assistant Mark Simon and former Next Media director Mark Clifford.

Cheung refers to Jimmy Lai’s weekly “lunchbox meetings” to convey instructions and political opinions

Cheung Kim-hung testified that he graduated from the Department of Social Sciences and Journalism from CUHK in his early years. In 1991, he joined “Next Magazine” as the editor of the financial team. In 1994, he became the editor-in-chief of “Next Magazine”. From 2001 to 2005, at the invitation of Jimmy Lai, he served as the president of “Next Magazine” in Taiwan. He stayed in Taiwan 3 days a week. He resigned in mid-2005 and was invited by Jimmy Lai to rejoin Next Magazine as a content consultant in 2010. A year later, he was transferred to the editor-in-chief position at Apple Daily and was promoted to president in 2016. At the time of the case, he was also the CEO of Next Digital Media.

In addition to explaining Jimmy Lai’s participation in “Apple Daily,” Cheung Kim-hung also mentioned the senior roles and editorial operations of “Apple Daily,” pointing out that co-defendant Chan Pui-man served as the vice president of “Apple Daily” and was mainly responsible for the publication of the newspaper; Ryan Law Wai-kwong was the editor-in-chief of “Apple Daily”, responsible for online news publishing and managing Hong Kong news reporters. Lam Man-chung, the former executive editor of “Apple Daily,” assisted Chan Pui-man in handling the publication of the newspaper and executing Chan’s instructions; Fung Wai-kong was in charge of the English version of “Apple Daily” and selected news to be translated into English every day.

Cheung Kim-hung said that at 2:30 pm every day, Chan Pui-man, Lam Man-chung, Ryan Law Wai-kwong and the team leaders first held a meeting called “Newspaper Picking Meeting” to review the contents of the newspapers published that day for deficiencies. Afterwards, the original team would hold a “preliminary meeting”, where each team leader would explain the news of the day. Chan Pui-man would instruct everyone to explore the news from an “angle” that is consistent with the policy based on the editorial policy set by Jimmy Lai. At about 5:30 pm, the meeting would decide the headlines of the next day’s newspapers and the content of each Hong Kong news section. Among them, Chan Pui-man, Lam Man-chung, Ryan Law Wai-kwong and each team leader would hold a “planning meeting” every week. Chan Pui-man would tell each team leader “the editorial policy proposed by Mr. Lai and asked them what stories can be followed up.”

Jimmy Lai would also hold a “lunch box meeting” every Thursday with Chan Pui-man and other management and invited department heads into the VIP room of the Next Media Building. Department heads would express the topics to be discussed in advance, and then Lai would hold the “lunch box meeting” ” On the same day, Lai would also give his personal political views and editorial instructions at the “lunch box meeting”.

“Apple Daily” commentary section also follows Jimmy Lai’s instructions, “No one dares to edit” Lai’s column

As for the operation of commentary articles, Cheung Kim-hung testified that Jimmy Lai’s editorial instructions covered editorial articles. Yeung Ching-kee, who was the chief writer of “Apple Daily” at the time of the case, was responsible for writing editorials and managing the operation of the commentary page, and reviewed commentary articles in accordance with Jimmy Lai’s editorial instructions. .

Cheung Kim-hung pointed out that there are different writers on the “Apple Daily” commentary section. Some writers were invited by Yeung Ching-kee, while others were introduced by Jimmy Lai when he believed them to be suitable for his “commentary point of view.” At that time, there were four writers on the editorial page of “Apple Daily” : Fung Wai-kong with the pen name “Lu Feng”, Yeung Ching-kee with the pen name “Li Ping”, and two writers with the pen name “Fang Yuan” and “Gu Li” respectively. Cheung did not reveal the real names of “Fang Yuan” and “Gu Li.” He said that “Fang Yuan” was recommended by Jimmy Lai, and the articles mainly criticized the government and opposed the Chinese Communist Party. Lai believed that “Fang Yuan” was familiar with the central government. Cheung Kim-hung also said that he had recommended writers, including the ones who wrote articles on the Hong Kong anti-extradition bill movement in the editorial page of Taiwan’s “Apple Daily” in 2019. He also recommended a Japanese writer to Yeung to write articles about the Japanese political power struggle.

As for the supplement column “Success and Failure with a Smile” in “Apple Daily” , Cheung Kim-hung confirmed that “it is Mr. Lai’s own column”, and the content is mainly critical of the government and anti-CCP. The prosecution asked Yeung Ching-kee whether he had reviewed and approved the column. Cheung said that the column was not on the editorial page, but in the supplement. If Yeung had reviewed and approved it, “it would only happen once or twice, which is very rare.” Later, he changed his statement to say that “no one dared to edit Mr. Lai’s articles.”

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Ming Pao live text update:

【16:28】The court adjourned and the case was adjourned to 2:30 pm tomorrow.

【16:19】Cheung Kim-hung pointed out that the supplement column of “Success and Failure with a Smile” in “Apple Daily” “is Jimmy Lai’s own column”, and the content is mainly critical of the government and anti-CCP. The prosecution asked whether Yeung Ching-kee had reviewed and approved the column. Cheung explained that the column was not on the editorial page, but in the supplement. If Yeung had approved it, it might be because the column was republished on the editorial page. However, Cheung added, “it only happens once or twice, very rarely.” “Rare”, which he later said “no one dared to modify Lai’s articles”.

【15:50】The court resumed. The prosecution continued to ask about the “editorial instructions” issued by Jimmy Lai in 2019, focusing on whether the instructions also affected editorial articles. Cheung Kim-hung confirmed that Jimmy Lai’s instructions covered editorial articles, adding that there were different writers on the commentary page of “Apple Daily” , some writers were invited by Yeung Ching-kee, and others were introduced by Jimmy Lai, because Lai believed that the other writers’ commentary was suitable for his “point of view.”

Cheung continued that there were four writers on the editorial page of “Apple Daily” at that time, including Fung Wai-kong with the pen name “Lu Feng”, Yeung Ching-kee with the pen name “Li Ping”, and two writers with the pen names “Fang Yuan” and “Gu Li” respectively. Cheung did not disclose the real names of “Fang Yuan” and “Gu Li”, saying that “Fang Yuan” was recommended by Jimmy Lai. The article mainly criticized the government and opposed the CCP. Lai believed that “Fang Yuan” was familiar with the central government’s situation and “wrote well.” Cheung Kim-hung said that he had also recommended writers, including an article in the editorial page of Taiwan’s “Apple Daily” in 2019 involving Hong Kong’s anti-extradition bill incident. Cheung suggested that Yeung could reprint related articles, and he also recommended a Japanese writer to Yeung. This writer’s article is about Japan’s political struggle.

【15:28】Cheung Kim-hung later mentioned Jimmy Lai’s views on the anti-extradition amendment movement in 2019, “Lai would tell me that he feels that this “Fugitive Offenders Ordinance” infringes on the democracy and freedom, human rights of Hong Kong people, and feels that the central government wants to send the disobedient Hong Kong people and the “thorns in the eye” of the central government back to the mainland.” Cheung also said, ” Lai claimed that the business community was very worried, and if the law is passed, the media won’t be able to do their job, at all.” Therefore, Lai advocated for calling on citizens to demonstrate through “Apple Daily” and calling for the attention of Western democratic countries, and even asking them to use sanctions to “make them (mainland and Hong Kong officials) not dare to mess around.” Cheung’s testimony ended here. The judges then adjourned the trial. During the recess, Jimmy Lai and his legal team briefly communicated across the defendant’s dock.

【15:21】Cheung Kim-hung continued to mention the 2014 Occupy Central movement, pointing out that Jimmy Lai actively participated in it, “I think this event was a watershed… From the 2014 Occupy Central movement, Apple Daily seemed to have become an anti-government, anti-central government newspaper.” Cheung said that from that time on, Apple Daily “went in this direction and managed the newspaper in the direction of Jimmy Lai.” In the defendant’s dock Jimmy Lai began to write notes frequently.

【15:10】Cheung Kim-hung pointed out that “around the time of the Occupy Central movement in 2014, Mr. Lai began to actively participate in the editorial policy of “Apple Daily”. “In my memory, Mr. Lai had little involvement before…when the image of “Apple Daily” at that time was more like paparazzi, entertainment.” In 2014, “Apple Daily” had begun to call on citizens to take to the streets to demonstrate, such as calling for universal suffrage, opposing the (one country, two systems) white paper, etc. “I remember there was a Chinese song adapted by Les Miserables, which Mr. Lai himself sang. One or two sentences.”

【14:52】Cheung Kim-hung continued to explain the operation of “Apple Daily”, saying that Chan Pui-man, Lam Man-chung, Ryan Law Wai-kwong and each team leader would hold a “planning meeting” every week. Chan Pui-man would explain to each team leader “the editorial policy proposed by Mr. Lai. Is there any story that we can follow up on?” But Cheung said, “I generally don’t attend such meetings…as far as I know, Mr. Lai did not attend such meetings.” The prosecution asked how Lai went to the management to convey instructions? Cheung said that Lai held “lunch box meetings” every Thursday with Chan Pui-man and other management and invited department heads to the VIP room on the 5th floor of the Next Media building. The invitees included “Apple Daily”, “Next Magazine” and “Eat, Drink, Men, Women” (飲食男女) representative. Lai would first set up a “Chat Group” with the department heads who would attend the meeting every Monday or Tuesday. The department heads would express the topics they wanted to discuss in the “Chat Group”, and then Lai would make the final decision on the day of the “lunch box meeting”. Lai would also express his personal political views at the “lunch box meeting” as well as the editorial instructions of “Apple Daily” following what happened at the time.

【14:31】The court resumed after lunch break. Cheung Kim-hung continued to testify. The prosecution instructed Cheung to summarize the general operation at this stage and leave individual examples to be discussed later when dealing with the timeline of the charge in this case. The prosecution invited Cheung to explain the working process of the newspaper. Cheung pointed out that at 2:30 pm every day, Chan Pui-man, Lam Man-chung, Ryan Law Wai-kwong and the leaders of various departments first held a meeting called “Newspaper Picking Meeting” (鋤報會) to review the content of the newspaper published that day to see if there are deficiencies; at 3 p.m.the original team would hold a “preliminary meeting” again, where each team leader would explain the news of the day. Chan Pui-man would, based on the editorial policy set by Jimmy Lai, instruct everyone to discover news stories with the policy’s “angle.” At about 5:30 pm, the meeting would decide the headlines of the next day’s newspapers and the content of each section covering Hong Kong news.

【12:24】When asked who appointed the editorial writer Yeung Ching-kee and other high-level positions, Cheung Kim-hung replied, “these appointments were all made with the consent of Mr. Jimmy Lai.” He then described the roles of the three companies involved in the case: Apple Daily Co., Ltd., the publishing supervisor of Apple Daily and of which he is the representative; Apple Daily Printing Co., Ltd. that was responsible for printing materials, such as the “June 4th” posters issued by “Apple Daily”; and Apple Daily Internet Co., Ltd. that registered the “appledaily.com.hk” online domain for “Apple Daily.”

At this point in Cheung’s testimony, the court took a lunch break.

【12:15】Cheung Kim-hung testified that Fung Wai-kong, who was the executive editor of “Apple Daily” at the time of the case, used “Lu Feng” as his pen name and originally wrote two editorials on political themes for “Apple Daily” every day. Later, Jimmy Lai thought that Fung’s workload should be reduced, so Fung changed to writing an editorial every day, and started working for the English version of “Apple Daily” in early June 2020; Cheung Chi-wai, who was the director of Apple’s dynamic news platform at the time of the incident, was not only responsible for the production of Apple Daily’s animated news and online supplement content, he also managed live broadcasts and Apple Daily’s social media accounts. As for Yeung Ching-kee, who was the chief writer of “Apple Daily” at the time of the case, he was responsible for writing editorials and managing the operation of the commentary page, and reviewing critical articles in accordance with the “editorial instructions” set by Jimmy Lai.

The prosecution asked about the “editorial instructions” set by Jimmy Lai between 2019 and 2020. Cheung Kim-hung said “Mr. Lai has always had a clear image, pursuing democracy, freedom and anti-totalitarianism…” He continued that “after the anti-extradition movement in 2019, ‘Lai believed that anti-extradition was….” and then he was interrupted by the prosecution. The prosecution asked him to briefly describe the meaning of the “editorial instructions”. Cheung replied, “the instruction given by Mr. Lai is that we should use Apple Daily to call on people to take to the streets to demonstrate and protest. In addition, Mr. Lai believes that we should call the attention of some Western democratic countries and hope that they can provide aid, or even some stronger actions, like some sanctions.”

【11:57】The court adjournment was over. Cheung Kim-hung continued to describe the internal division of labor at “Apple Daily”, saying that the former executive editor of “Apple Daily”, Lam Man-chung, was Chan Pui-man’s deputy and assisted Chan in handling the publication of the newspaper and executing Chan’s instructions; Fung Wai-kong (who was also the executive editor at “Apple Daily” at the time of the case) was responsible for the English version of Apple Daily and is responsible for selecting news to be translated into English every day. Cheung added that Lai gave clear guidance on the operation of the English version and would also introduce “writers” to the English version through his personal assistant Mark Simon and former Next Digital board member Mark Clifford.

【11:18】Cheung Kim-hung continued that Lai served as a non-executive board member of Next Digital from 2018 to 2020, and became the executive board member in May 2020. Cheung said he “can’t remember the explanation” for this change, but said that “from 2018 to 2020, he (Lai) actually actively participated in the decision-making and operation of the group.”

As for the responsibilities of other co-defendants, Cheung Kim-hung said that Chan Pui-man (who was the vice president of “Apple Daily” at the time of the case) was mainly responsible for the publication of the newspaper; Ryan Law Wai-kwong (who was the editor-in-chief of “Apple Daily” at the time of the case) was responsible for online news release and management Hong Kong news reporters. Cheung added that since “Apple Daily” began to develop online news two years before the charged case, the newspaper publishing work that was handled by Ryan Law Wai-kwong was handed over to Chan Pui-man.

Cheung then expressed his wish to go to the toilet, and the judge temporarily adjourned the case.

【11:05】Cheung Kim-hung continued his testimony, explaining the difference between the responsibilities of the editor-in-chief and the president, saying that the editor-in-chief is responsible for the approval and decision-making of the newspaper, “such as selecting news every day and making headlines”, while the president is slightly “high level”, ensuring that newspaper publication complies with editorial policies. The prosecution also asked about the differences in their company positions between Jimmy Lai, the chairman of Next, and Cheung, the chief executive. Cheung described Lai as the company’s “top leader” and “I am responsible for executing the instructions of Jimmy Lai and the board of directors.”

【10:44】Anthony Chau Tin-hang, Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, representing the prosecution, asked Cheung Kim-hung why he was appointed by Jimmy Lai. Cheung replied, “because Mr. Lai is satisfied with my work performance.” Cheung also pointed out that when Lai founded “Next Magazine” in Taiwan in 2000, he was specifically asked to go to Taiwan to assist. Cheung stayed in Taiwan three days a week from 2001 to 2005 and served as the president of Taiwan’s “Next Magazine”. Until mid-2005, Cheung saw Taiwan’s “Next Magazine” “starting to make money” and its business was stable, so he resigned and planned to take a rest.

Cheung Kim-hung testified that until 2010, “Mr. Lai wanted me to return to Hong Kong to help “Next Magazine”, so he rejoined “Next Magazine” at Lai’s invitation and served as a content consultant. In 2011, Jimmy Lai transferred Cheung Kim-hung to Apple Daily as the editor-in-chief. Cheung was promoted to president in 2016. Cheung continued that Lai promoted him to the president of Apple Daily in 2016. The prosecution once again focused on the reason why Jimmy Lai appointed him as president. Judge Alex Lee interrupted at this time and asked how the question was related to the case. The prosecution explained that it could show the connection between Lai and Cheung. Cheung later replied that he was promoted to president “because Mr. Li recognized my work ability.”

In 2017, Cheung was appointed as the deputy chief executive of Next Media, and was promoted to the chief executive of Next Media the following year. He then gradually became a board member of the company and of all its subsidiaries, including the three companies involved in the defendant case.

【10:04】The prosecution summoned co-defendant Cheung Kim-hung to appear in court to testify. Cheung, who has been remanded in custody, was escorted to the court by three correctional officers and sat between the lawyer’s column and the court clerk. Wearing a dark blue jacket and a blue checkered shirt, he held a Bible and swore an oath. Sitting in the defendant’s dock, Jimmy Lai folded his hands on his chest and looked at Cheung Kim-hung with a calm expression.

Cheung testified that he graduated from the Department of Social Sciences and Journalism of the Chinese University of Hong Kong in his early years. On June 17, 2021, he was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy with foreign forces and other crimes. Later, he, Jimmy Lai and other Apple senior executives were indicted for conspiracy to violate the national security law. He was the chief executive and president of Next Media at the time of the case. Cheung said that he joined “Next Magazine” in 1991 and became the editor of the economics section. “In 1994, I was appointed by Mr. Jimmy Lai to be the editor-in-chief of (Next Magazine).” Later, Next Media published many publications as its business developed, among which Jimmy Lai Founded “Apple Daily” in 1995.

【09:55】Jimmy Lai, wearing a brown leather jacket and a white shirt, was escorted to the court by four correctional officers. He smiled and waved to his wife and two children who were watching, and seemed to be in good spirits. Jimmy Lai is represented by barrister Steven Kwan, New Zealand King’s Counsel Marc Corlett, etc. The prosecution is represented byDeputy Director of Public Prosecutions Anthony Chau Tin-hang, Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Ivan Cheung Cheuk-kan, etc. Chief Superintendent of the National Security Department Steve Li Kwai-wah was also at the prosecution table.

【09:24】Police officers were deployed outside the court and police dogs were deployed to stand guard. Multiple police cars were parked on Ying Wa Street. Additional police personnel were also deployed on the footbridge outside the nearby shopping mall V Walk. Before entering the court building, many private cars had to park on Tung Chau Street and wait for the police to check the bottom of the car before they were allowed to drive into the court parking lot.

Ming Pao