Hong Kong activist Jimmy Lai pleads not guilty to sedition and collusion charges

A prison van carrying activist publisher Jimmy Lai arrives at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts, where Lai’s trial takes place, in Hong Kong (Billy HC Kwok/AP)

Prominent activist and publisher Jimmy Lai has pleaded not guilty to three charges of sedition and collusion with foreign countries in a landmark national security trial in Hong Kong.

Lai, a media tycoon who founded the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper, faces one count of conspiring to print seditious publications to incite hatred against the Chinese and Hong Kong governments, as well as two counts of collusion with foreign countries to call for sanctions and other hostile actions against China and Hong Kong.