Hong Kong: The latest in a series of cases against prominent activists that critics claim are intended to suppress dissent in the city, a Hong Kong court on Saturday jailed a pro-democracy media tycoon for five years and nine months on two counts. sentenced to. Allegations of fraud relating to breach of lease.

Jimmy Lai, who was detained as part of a crackdown on the city's pro-democracy movement in response to significant protests in 2019, was also fined 2 million Hong Kong dollars ($257,000).

The pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily was published by his media company Next Digital before it was shut down. Following the arrest of its top executives, editors and reporters last year, the publication was forced to shut down.

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Lai was found guilty of fraud in October for sub-renting a portion of office space between 2016 and 2020 to a secretarial business he also owned and controlled. The second charge of fraud was for violating a lease agreement by allegedly allowing the same company to use the media outlet's office space from 1998 to 2015.

The court determined at the time that Lai had concealed the fact that the business was renting space in the building and that the actions violated lease agreements with the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corp.

Lai had used his media organization as an "umbrella of security" when committing the violations, which Judge Stanley Chan described as "organised and planned" over a period of 20 years.

He claimed that Lai showed no remorse for his actions and that the court had no reason to reduce his sentence.

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Chan said Wong Wai-keung, a former co-worker of Lai's who was found guilty of one count of fraud in connection with the case, would spend 21 months in prison.

Earlier, Lai's legal team requested that the United Nations investigate whether her detention and multiple criminal charges were intended as "legal harassment" to punish her for speaking out. The businessman was earlier given a jail term of 20 months for his involvement in illegal gatherings.

The start of his national security trial, which was initially set for 1 December, was delayed after a request by Hong Kong leader John Lee that China essentially ban him from hiring a British defense lawyer. If convicted, Lai could be sentenced to life in prison.

In the semi-autonomous Chinese city, the implementation of the security law resulted in the arrest of several prominent democracy activists. In 1997, Hong Kong, a former British colony, was once again under Chinese control.

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Additionally, it has reduced confidence in the future of the global financial center as more and more young professionals are relocating overseas in response to dwindling freedoms.