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Jimmy Lai, the pro-democracy former Hong Kong media tycoon and a fierce critic of Beijing, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in one of the most prominent cases prosecuted under a China-imposed national security law that has virtually silenced the city’s dissent.
Three government-vetted judges spared Lai, 78, the maximum penalty of life imprisonment on charges of conspiring with others to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security, and conspiracy to publish seditious articles.
He was convicted in December.
Given his age, the prison term still could keep him behind bars for the rest of his life.