Corruption is Everywhere > Hong Kong eliminating Free Press; Putin locks up another opposition politician

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The heroic Jimmy Lai could have left Hong Kong before being arrested but he refused to.

Hong Kong court sentences media tycoon Jimmy Lai

to long prison term

By Matt Bernardini

   

Media mogul Jimmy Lai was sentenced to five years and seven months in prison on Saturday by a Hong Kong District Court. Photo by Jerome Favre/EPA-EFE

Dec. 10 (UPI) -- Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai on Saturday was sentenced to five years and seven months in prison after being convicted on two counts of fraud.

A Hong Kong district court said that the 75-year-old breached land lease terms by deliberately concealing a consultancy firm at the offices of his now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper.

Judge Stanley Chan Kwong-chi said Lai had played a significant role in deceiving the publication's landowner under the cover of a "fairly sizeable and reputable" news outlet, the South China Morning Post reported.

"If a media organization, representing the so-called fourth power, allowed a firm to occupy its space without authorization to carry out its businesses, was it not that such organization did so under the aegis of its reputation as the media?" the judge asked.

The case against Lai has increased concerns about diminishing press freedom in Hong Kong.

Several pro-democracy media outlets closed after the introduction of a strict security law, which has been used to jail much of the city's political opposition.

Hong Kong has fallen 68 places from a year earlier to No. 148 in Reporters Without Borders' most recent World Press Freedom Index.

"Illegal demonstration, fraud, national security crimes -- the diversity of the charges against Jimmy Lai, and the staggering severity of the sentences imposed on him, show how desperate the Chinese regime is to silence this symbolic figure of press freedom in Hong Kong," Reporters Without Borders bureau head Cédric Alviani said Saturday.

Lai is already serving 20 months for his role in unauthorized assemblies during 2019 anti-government protests. The pro-democracy activist also faces charges under the national security law, including conspiracy to collude with foreign forces.

Foreign forces - does that mean media?

After the ruling, Lai must also pay a $256,850 fine and he is banned from managing companies for eight years.

No, I am not Russophobic or anti-Russian - but when you write laws for the express purpose of silencing political opposition, and then use those laws to lock up your opponents, then I have a problem. And I cannot see how you can pretend to be a democracy.

Russian antiwar politician Ilya Yashin sentenced to 8 1/2 years in prison

By Doug Cunningham

Antiwar Russian politician Ilya Yashin gives peace signs from glass cubicle in Russian court Friday.Yashin was sentenced to 8 1/2 years in prison for criticizing Russia's war on Ukraine, alleged by the Russian state of "spreading false information" about Russian atrocities in Ukraine. Photo courtesy of Ilya Yashin Facebook page

Dec. 9 (UPI) -- Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin was sentenced Friday to 8 1/2 years in prison after criticizing Russian Presdient Vladimir Putin and the war on Ukraine on his YouTube channel.

In a democracy, criticizing the government is what political opponents do!

A Russian court found him guilty of "spreading false information" about Russian atrocities in the Ukrainian city of Bucha committed in February and March. Yashin was prosecuted under a law passed after Russia invaded Ukraine

Yashin posted a message on Telegram reacting to his sentence.

"So, the court sentenced me to 8 years and 6 months in prison," he wrote. "Well, the authors of the verdict are optimistic about Putin's prospects. In my opinion, way too optimistic."

Yashin added that with the "hysterical verdict," the Russian government wants to intimidate all Russians, but he said in fact it demonstrates weakness.

"Only weaklings seek to shut everyone up, burn out any dissent," Yashin wrote in the Telegram post. "So today it only remains for me to repeat what was said on the day of my arrest: I am not afraid, and you are not afraid."

Yashin's conviction and sentence is another example of Russian suppression of dissent, and media coverage criticizing the war on Ukraine.

In a courtroom speech, Yashin said, "It physically pains me to think how many people have been killed in this war, how many lives have been ruined, and how many families have lost their homes. You cannot be indifferent. And I swear I do not regret anything."

He said it's better to spend 10 years behind bars as an honest man than "quietly burn with shame over the blood spilled by your government."

Russian antiwar protests have led to thousands of arrests. Thousands of Russians have also fled the country rather than be drafted to fight in Ukraine.

Putin has done a very poor job of selling this war to the Russian people.  He hasn't attempted to explain that the war is actually a proxy war with NATO and America. 

Corruption is Everywhere > Another Canadian-Chinese Corrupt Tycoon; Hong Kong's Jimmy Lai goes to Trial; Imran Khan to be Arrested for Terrorism

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China jails tycoon Xiao Jianhua for 13 years, slapping an

unprecedented US$8 billion fine on his Tomorrow Group

Canadian-Chinese tycoon guilty of illegally collecting public deposits, using entrusted

assets in breach of trust, illegal use of funds and bribery, a Shanghai court says

Sentencing concludes a clean-up of Xiao’s financial empire, which was part of Beijing’s efforts to control financial risks

Iris Ouyang

South China Morning Post

Published: 4:52pm, 19 Aug, 2022

Chinese-Canadian billionaire Xiao Jianhua was sentenced to 13 years behind bars on Friday. Photo: Handout

A court in China has sentenced Xiao Jianhua, the founder of Tomorrow Group, to 13 years in prison, and slapped a fine of 55 billion yuan (US$8.1 billion) on the conglomerate, bookending the dramatic break-up of China’s largest privately owned financial empire after a five-year investigation.

The Canadian-Chinese tycoon – who disappeared from a luxury hotel in Hong Kong in 2017 – was found guilty of illegally collecting public deposits, using entrusted assets in breach of trust, illegally using funds and bribery, according to a statement by the Shanghai No 1 Intermediate People’s Court on Friday. Xiao was also personally fined 6.5 million yuan.

The sentencing closed the clean-up of Xiao’s financial empire comprising assets worth 3 trillion yuan, and is part of Beijing’s ramped-up efforts to control financial risks in recent years.

Hong Kong national security law: 6 ex-Apple Daily staff to admit collusion, 

Jimmy Lai to stand trial without jury after pleading not guilty

Lai, 74, charged alongside six former employees of tabloid-style paper 

with conspiracy to collude with foreign forces

Prosecutors allege they had sought international sanctions or hostile actions 

by foreign governments against Hong Kong or mainland China

Brian Wong

Published: 3:06pm, 22 Aug, 2022

South China Morning Post

Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai is facing a charge of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces. Photo: Winson Wong

Six former senior executives of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper will admit collusion under Hong Kong’s national security law, the High Court has heard, while their jailed ex-boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying will stand trial without a jury after pleading not guilty to the charges.

Lai, 74, was charged alongside the six former employees of the opposition-friendly, tabloid-style paper with conspiracy to collude with foreign forces. The media tycoon and three associate companies were the only ones pleading not guilty.

The defendants’ positions were revealed on Monday in a case management hearing, which is usually held behind closed doors for parties to handle administrative matters before a trial.

Imran is charged in an effort to keep him quiet in a corrupt political move

Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan charged under terrorism act

By Darryl Coote

Imran Khan, the former prime minister of Pakistan, was charged Sunday under the country's antiterrorism laws

over a speech he gave a day earlier. File Photo by Michael Reynolds/UPI | License Photo

Aug. 21 (UPI) -- Imran Khan, the former prime minister of Pakistan who was ousted from power in April, was charged Sunday under the country's antiterrorism act amid a political fight for the country's helm.

The charge report says Khan threatened officials during a speech he gave a day earlier in which he chastised top police officials and a judge over the arrest of his chief of staff, Shahbaz Gill, The Washington Post reported.

"The way Imran Khan made his speech and the threats he made led to fear and terror among the police, judiciary and the common people and it harmed the peace of country," the charge report states.

Sounds like the police and judiciary are pretty easily terrorized.

Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah tweeted that Kahn "will have to face the law for threatening and hurling abuses at the Magistrate and Police officers."

"Such acts of brazen thuggery are responsible for instigating extremism in society," he said, before addressing Khan directly: "You ... are not allowed to challenge the writ of the state by inciting rebellion."

As of early Monday, Khan has yet to be arrested.

Senior members of Khan's political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, have tweeted images and videos of crowds outside Khan's Bani Gala residence in a show of support for their embattled leader.

"Whole nations stand behind Chairman PTI [Khan] against the imported government," the party's official account tweeted Sunday.

Murad Saeed, a senior PTI official and a close associate of Khan, confirmed Sunday that an arrest order has been issued for Khan while calling on citizens to protest.

"Get out for the sake of Pakistan!" he tweeted.

The charges brought against Khan come months after he was removed from power in a no-confidence vote in early April.

Since being ousted, the former cricket star has continued to give mass rallies for his party, which has made significant gains in recent elections.

However, PTI officials have said that in response to the political wins the Pakistani government banned some pro-Khan media outlets and targeted members of Khan's inner circle with arrests.

Remember, this is Pakistan, not Myanmar or Ukraine.

"Record defeat of the imported government coalition. That's why they are running away from the elections. When channels were banned for showing Imran Khan's speech, people went to YouTube, when YouTube was closed, people came out on the streets," Saeed tweeted Sunday. "The independent nation has decided."

I wonder what he means by the 'imported government coalition'?

Gill was arrested earlier this month on charges of sedition and inciting the public against state institutions for comments he made on ARY News alleging the government was trying to influence rank and file military personnel to turn against PTI, local news organization Dawn reported.

In announcing Gill's arrest, Sanaullah tweeted that Gill during his TV appearance had read from a script prepared for him under Khan's supervision in order to "create rifts between ranks of the state institution."

His arrest sparked criticism from PTI and allegations, including from Khan, that Gill had been tortured and sexually abused under police custody, charges government officials and authorities deny.

During Khan's speech Saturday, the former prime minister threatened to bring lawsuits against those responsible for Gill's arrest, including police, stating they will pay for torturing him.

Hold on there, Imran, the police might be in terror of lawsuits.

In response, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority issued a four-page statement banning TV channels from broadcasting Khan's speeches live, stating they could be aired with a delay once ensuring they are in compliance with the law.

In the statement, PERMA said that Khan has repeatedly leveled "baseless allegations" against state institutions and spread "hate speech through his provocative statements" in defiance of the law.

Following Khan's speech, Islamabad Capital Territory Police issued a statement of rebuke on Sunday, stating "anyone making threats or allegations will be dealt with."

"We have taken an oath to serve the nation at all times. All officers and men are rendering their services with full responsibility and will continue to render them."

Early Monday, police announced the arrest of popular YouTuber Jameel Farooqui in Karachi for making a video accusing police of physically and sexually assaulting Gill.

"Islamabad Capital Police had indicated action against those making inflammatory, fabricated and false allegations," it said.