Hong Kong prosecutors slap 3 Apple Daily-affiliated firms with colonial-era sedition charge
- Apple Daily Limited, Apple Daily Printing Limited and AD Internet Limited have all been charged with sedition as part of ongoing national security law case
- Three firms appoint proxy to act on their behalf during criminal proceedings, enlist legal counsel from former prosecutor
The firms, all involved in the newspaper’s operation before a police crackdown last June, appointed a proxy to appear at West Kowloon Court for the first time during Thursday’s pre-trial hearing before the case was moved to the High Court.
The proxy, only identified in court by his surname Man, was named by the companies’ incumbent directors to act on their behalf during the criminal proceedings, but was not currently sitting on any of the directors’ boards.
The new joint charge states that all three companies allegedly conspired with the seven co-accused to “print, publish, sell, offer for sale, distribute, display and/or reproduce seditious publications” between April 2019 and June 2021. The same charge was laid against the seven in an earlier hearing last December.