Hong Kong prosecutors lose appeal against acquittal of media tycoon Jimmy Lai in intimidation case
- Lai was accused of verbally threatening an Oriental Daily reporter during a 2017 vigil at Victoria Park, but magistrate cleared him of the charge
- Prosecutors argue magistrate had ‘clearly misdirected herself, misunderstood facts’
Hong Kong prosecutors on Monday lost an appeal against a magistrate’s decision to clear media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying of intimidating a reporter from a rival newspaper four years ago.
On Monday, Mr Justice Andrew Chan Hing-wai of the High Court concluded the trial magistrate had erred in law when considering one of two key elements of the alleged offence: whether Lai had the intention to alarm the reporter.
But the judge ultimately dismissed the appeal after finding prosecutors were not able to prove the magistrate had reached a “perverse” conclusion in respect to the other element: whether Lai had made a threat to physically injure the reporter.
“In order to succeed, the appellant must prove both the magistrate’s findings were wrong,” Chan explained. “The appeal therefore must fail.”