Who is Jimmy Liy, the HK Media Tycoon tycoon for the trial for national security crimes?

Some with the hero and contemptible others, such as a traitor, a pro-democratic media-Media-speaker Jimmy Lai is at the last stage of the national security trial.

Final arguments begin on Thursday for Lai, which is accused of conspiracy with foreign forces in accordance with the National Security Law imposed on Beijing.

The court attracted international attention, and British Prime Minister Sir Kire Starmer called for the release of Lai. At the age of 77, there is British, as well as Chinese-Hati, China does not recognize the double nationality, and therefore considers Lai exclusively Chinese.

Lai has been detained since December 2020 and threatened with life imprisonment if he is convicted.

Critics say the Laia case shows how the legal system of Hong Kong was armed for the silence of political opposition.

The Lai was a steady thorn in the Chinese side. Unlike other tycoons who rose to the top in Hong Kong, Mr. Li became one of the most violent critics of the Chinese state, and the leading figure who advocates democracy in the former British territory.

“I was born a rebel,” he said in an interview with the BBC in 2020, a few hours before his charge. “I have a very rebellious character.”

He is the most famous person who is accused A contradictory law on national security Which China presented in 2020 in response to mass protests that broke out in Hong Kong.

The legislation criminalizes a broader range of dissenters, which, among other things, considers the undermining and the department.

Beijing says the national security law is necessary to maintain stability in Hong Kong, but critics say it effectively banned dissent.

For many years, Lai Sebastien’s son called for release. In February, the younger Lai called on Starmer and US President Donald Trump to take urgent measures, adding that “the father’s body is destroying.”

Lai was born in Guangzhou, in South China, in a wealthy family that lost everything when the Communists took power in 1949.

He was 12 years old when he fled in his village in mainland China, arriving in Hong Kong as a fishing boat.

Working with amazing work and knitting in a small clothing store, he taught himself English. It moved from the main role to eventually establish a multimillion -dollar empire, including the Giordano International brand.

The network was a huge success. But when China sent tanks to crush protest on Democracy on Beijing on Tiananmen Square in 1989, Liy started a new journey as an activist on vocal democracy, as well as an entrepreneur.

He began to write columns, criticizing the massacre, which followed the demonstrations in Beijing, and created a publishing house, which became one of the most influential Hong Kong.

When China reacted, threatening to close the stores on the mainland, forcing it to sell the company, Liy launched a number of popular pro -democratic titles that included Next, Digital Magazine and widely read Apple Daily newspaper.

In the local media, the Leanth is increasingly afraid of Beijing, Lya was a persistent critic of the Chinese authorities both through his publications and writing.

It saw it as he became a hero for many in Hong Kong, who views him as a man who risks protecting the city’s freedom.

But on the mainland he is considered as a “traitor” that threatens China’s national security.

In recent years, the masks of the attackers have been hit by the house and the headquarters of Lai. It was also the goal of the assassination.

But none of the threats prevented him from broadcasting his views. It was a great part of the city’s pro -democratic demonstrations and was arrested twice in 2021 for illegal fees.

When China passed a new Hong Kong National Security Law in June 2020, Lai told the BBC that it sounded “death” for the territory.

The influential entrepreneur also warned that Hong Kong would become as corrupt as China. Without the rule of law, he said, his desired status of the global financial center would be “completely destroyed”.

The media is known for its sincerity and acts.

In 2021, he called on Donald Trump to help the territory, saying that he was “the only one who can save us” from China. His Apple Daily published a letter on the front page that finished: “Mr. please help us.”

For Lay, such actions were necessary to protect the city, which accepted it and fueled its success.

One day he told the news agency AFP: “I came here from nothing, freedom of this place gave me everything … Maybe it came when I returned for this freedom, fighting for it.”

Lai has been hit by various accusations – including an unauthorized meeting and fraud since 2020.

It has been in custody since December of the same year.

The Lai charge has attracted international attention when law groups and foreign governments call for its release.

For many years, Sebastien Lai traveled the world to bring his father’s arrest and condemn Hong Kong for punishment “the characteristics that should be noted”.

“My father is in prison for the truth on his lips, courage in his heart and freedom in his soul,” he said.