Six former Next Media executives pleaded guilty in the High Court on the 22nd to one count of conspiring with foreign countries or foreign forces to endanger national security. It is said that some people will turn into corrupt witnesses, which is another major development in the Li Zhiying case.
Guilty pleas are not universal, and the guilty plea must admit the key facts of the case. There are many details involved in the case if the confessor confesses. And these cases which have been admitted by some defendants will also be brought up again in Li Zhiying’s trial in the future.
Many people asked why the six defendants pleaded guilty?
In general, when a defendant pleads guilty in a criminal case, it usually involves technical considerations, mainly to estimate the evidence the prosecution has and gauge the likelihood that the prosecution will win the case. If it is estimated that the prosecution has a high chance of winning the case, pleading guilty and showing remorse can reduce the sentence by one third Public holiday deduction, around two years, can be released from prison after serving’ r sentence. As the person in question is not allowed to be released on bail, he has already been detained for a significant period of time, and can be released as long as he serves the remainder of his sentence.
From another perspective, if the defendant pleads not guilty and is found guilty, he usually chooses to appeal. In this type of case, regardless of which side loses the case, there is a high chance that it will be appealed to the Court of Final Appeal, and the result will be a delay of several years. Even if the defendant is found not guilty during the period and can get out during the appeal period, the psychological pressure will be great. The defendant weighed both, and if the prosecution’s evidence is deemed sufficient, a guilty plea is a logical choice.
Recall that on August 10, 2020, when the “Hong Kong National Security Law” had been in force for more than a month, the police searched Next Media’s headquarters building in Tseung Kwan O and arrested Jimmy Lai, some executives Next Media, Zhou Ting , Li Yuxuan, etc. Social activists. It is said that when the police carried out the arrest operation, they only had superficial evidence and they did not have enough evidence. Evidence is collected after the arrest, and evidence is gradually accumulated.
The key change in the case is the so-called “Twelve Hidden Events”. Li Yuxuan, one of the people involved in the case, planned to smuggle to Taiwan on a speedboat with 11 other people involved in anti-revision cases on August 23 of the same year. During the detention period on the mainland, he explained the details of the case in detail. After Li Yuxuan was escorted back to Hong Kong, he and his legal assistant Chen Zihua pleaded guilty to the crime of collusion with foreign forces including Li Zhiying and Liu Zudi, Liu Zudi’s “scrambler”. This was the first important breakthrough point in Li Zhiying Case.
Li Zhiying’s case was accused of colluding with foreign forces to violate national security, which involved many different connections. Li Yuxuan is one of the executors, and the online is Mark Simon, Li Zhiying’s assistant who has escaped and fled from Hong Kong. As the relevant contacts are kept confidential, it is not easy for the prosecution to establish the entire chain of evidence if no relevant person discloses the information. But when a person involved in the case pleads guilty and tells the full story of the crime, the context of the entire collusion will be fully revealed. After Li Yuxuan and Chen Zihua pleaded guilty, the prosecution had a large amount of evidence, and the chances of successfully prosecuting Li Zhiying increased. Next Media’s other high-profile defendants must consider whether they want to continue to choose to deny the charges and risk the ultimate conviction.
In reality, the defendant will fall like a domino, choosing the decision to plead guilty under the circumstances. Just like the “prisoner’s choice” in Game Theory, everyone will estimate that the other defendant will plead not guilty? Will it break the news? What are the disadvantages for others of pleading guilty and not pleading guilty?
Finally, six senior executives of Next Media chose to plead guilty and admit more facts of the case, which is even more unfavorable to the situation of Li Zhiying’s case. This lawsuit is not easy to fight.
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Lu Yongxiong
