Overview

• Closing arguments finished this week after a months-long proceeding spanning nearly 160 court days, with a decision expected in weeks or months.
• Lai, 77, pleads not guilty to colluding with foreign forces and conspiring to publish seditious material under the 2020 security law.
• Prosecutors say he used Apple Daily and foreign contacts to seek sanctions on Hong Kong and China, portraying him as the conspiracy’s “mastermind.”
• The defense urged judges to disregard testimony from Wayland Chan Tsz-wah as that of an “admitted serial liar” and argued Lai’s commentary was protected expression.
• Health concerns briefly delayed hearings; rights groups and governments, including President Donald Trump and Reporters Without Borders, pressed for his release.