To a Hong Kong national security court, Jimmy Lai’s only intent was to “seek the downfall” of China’s ruling Communist Party. To Hong Kong’s leader, Mr. Lai’s actions were “malicious.” And to the police, his guilty verdicts on Monday amounted to “justice served.”

在香港国安法庭看来，黎智英的唯一意图是“寻求推翻”中国执政的共产党。对香港特首而言，黎智英的行为是“歹毒”的。而对警方来说，周一作出的有罪裁决“彰显了法律的正义”。

But to the small group of supporters who gathered quietly outside the courthouse on Monday before the verdict, the media tycoon and outspoken critic of Beijing was someone who stood up for them. He was also someone who joined pro-democracy protesters in the streets of Hong Kong until 2020 when China imposed an expansive national security law.

但对于周一宣判前静静聚集在法院外的一小群支持者而言，这位媒体大亨和直言不讳的北京批评者是一个曾为他们挺身而出的人。他也曾在街头与香港的民主派示威者并肩而行，直到2020年中国实施了一部全面覆盖的国家安全法。

In a sign of how much things have changed in this city since, Mr. Lai’s supporters were reluctant to speak to reporters. Many wore masks to cover their face. One supporter ushered a New York Times reporter to a corner away from police, who stood nearby looking on, before saying that the landmark trial marked the end of a chapter for the once-freewheeling media outlets in the city. Another supporter said she had attended every single hearing, of which there have been more than 150, over the past two years.

这座城市自那以后发生了巨大变化，这一点从一个细节中可见一斑：黎智英的支持者不愿接受记者采访。许多人戴着口罩遮住面部。警察站在附近注视着人群，一名支持者将《纽约时报》记者引到远离警察的角落，随后表示，这场里程碑式审判标志着这座城市曾经自由奔放的媒体时代已经终结。另一名支持者说，过去两年里，她参加了全部150多场庭审中的每一场。

The verdicts — which she correctly assumed would be guilty — were a watershed moment, she said. Who would stand up for the beliefs of people like her now, she wondered.

她说，这些她早已料到会定罪的裁决是一个分水岭。她不禁发问，如今还有谁会站出来支持像她这样的人所坚守的信念？

周一，香港，人们排队进入法院等待黎智英案的判决。

Presided over by a panel of three judges handpicked by Hong Kong’s leader, the trial did not have a jury, in a break from the city’s traditional common-law system that applies to national security cases.

该案由香港特首亲自挑选的三名法官组成的合议庭审理，没有设立陪审团——这偏离了香港传统的普通法制度，国家安全案件也适用于这一制度。

Esther Toh, one of the three judges, read from the concluding remarks of an 855-page ruling for nearly 40 minutes on Monday.

周一，三名法官之一的杜丽冰法官用了近40分钟，宣读了一份长达855页的裁决书的结语部分。

Dressed in a light-colored blazer and wearing black-rimmed glasses, Mr. Lai, who turned 78 last week, looked ahead as she read the decision that he had been found guilty on two counts of “conspiracy to collude with foreign forces,” in part over meetings he had held with politicians in the United States, and one count of conspiracy to publish seditious material in Apple Daily, the now-shuttered Chinese-language newspaper he founded in 1995.

上周刚刚过完78岁生日的黎智英身着浅色西装外套，戴着黑框眼镜，当杜丽冰法官宣读裁决时，他目视前方，神情平静。判决裁定他两项串谋勾结外国势力罪名（部分源于他与美国政界人士的会面）以及一项串谋发布煽动刊物罪（指其1995年创办、现已停刊的中文报纸《苹果日报》）罪名成立。

There was “no doubt” that Mr. Lai’s actions were motivated by “resentment and hatred” for China, Judge Toh said. She described Mr. Lai as “gleeful” about the prospect of the U.S. government imposing sanctions on the city after the authorities had suppressed monthslong mass antigovernment protests that erupted in 2019.

杜丽冰法官表示，“毫无疑问”，黎智英的行为动机源于对中国“心怀仇恨”。她形容在当局镇压2019年爆发并持续数月的大规模反政府抗议活动后，黎智英“乐见”美国政府对香港实施制裁的前景。

2023年，黎智英在狱中。

The judges painted Mr. Lai as a wealthy man who used his money and influence to lobby foreign countries, and, in particular, the United States. These actions, they said, were akin to an American national working with Russia to bring down the U.S. government under the banner of helping the state of California.

法官将黎智英描绘成一名利用财富和影响力游说外国、尤其是美国的富商。他们表示，这些行为类似于一名美国公民打着帮助加州的旗号与俄罗斯合作试图推翻美国政府。

From inside a glass box in the courtroom, Mr. Lai sat mostly still as he listened.

黎智英坐在法庭内的玻璃隔间中，几乎一动不动地聆听裁决。

The self-proclaimed “troublemaker” — whose Apple Daily once gave blanket coverage to the pro-democracy demonstrations — now faces up to life in prison. The court has set four days aside for a pre-sentencing hearing starting on Jan. 12 and the punishment would be announced “as soon as possible,” Judge Toh said.

这位自称“麻烦制造者”的人——他拥有的《苹果日报》曾对民主派示威活动进行全面报道——如今面临最高可判处终身监禁的刑罚。法庭已安排自1月12日起用四天时间举行量刑前听证会，杜丽冰表示，刑罚将“尽快”宣布。

After hearing the verdict, Mr. Lai stood up and waved to his wife, Teresa, who was sitting with one of his sons, Lai Shun Yan, and Cardinal Joseph Zen, the former Roman Catholic bishop of Hong Kong and an outspoken supporter of democracy.

听到判决后，黎智英站起身来，向坐在旁听席上的妻子李韵琴致意，李韵琴的身边是他们的儿子黎顺恩，以及天主教香港教区荣休主教、民主运动的公开支持者陈日君枢机。

左起：黎智英的妻子李韵琴、儿子黎顺恩，以及陈日君枢机周一抵达法庭。

Mr. Lai was already behind bars for five years, having previously been convicted of fraud for violating the terms of a lease agreement. Long known for his broad features, he now appears much slimmer. His family says his health is deteriorating from being held in solitary confinement, a point that police disputed in a news conference following the hearing on Monday.

黎智英此前已因违反租赁协议条款而被判欺诈罪获刑五年，正在服刑。他一向体型魁梧，如今却显得消瘦了许多。他的家人表示，长期被单独关押正在损害他的健康；警方在周一听证会后的新闻发布会上对此提出异议。

Hong Kong officials say Mr. Lai is receiving “adequate and comprehensive” medical care and that he had requested to be held in solitary confinement.

香港当局称，黎智英获得了“完备”的医疗服务，并表示他是主动要求被单独关押的。

International human rights groups condemned the guilty verdict as further evidence of the wider crackdown on free speech in Hong Kong. Sarah Brooks, Amnesty International’s China director, said it showed how the city’s national security laws were designed to “silence” its people.

国际人权组织谴责对黎智英的有罪裁决，认为这进一步证明香港当局正在更广泛地打压言论自由。国际特赦组织中国事务总监莎拉·布鲁克斯表示，这表明香港的国家安全法律旨在“噤声”民众。

Mr. Lai’s verdict comes as Hong Kong is still dealing with the aftermath of its most deadly fire in decades, an apartment complex blaze that killed at least 160 people last month. The national security police have made more than a dozen arrests since the fire and have been on heightened alert for what they say are “anti-China forces” looking to exploit the disaster to undermine social stability. Critics have said the authorities are targeting people calling for greater government accountability.

黎智英的判决出炉之际，香港仍在应对数十年来最严重火灾的后续影响——上个月，一个公寓楼群发生火灾，造成至少160人死亡。事发后，国安警察已逮捕十几人，并高度警惕他们所称的企图利用这场灾难破坏社会稳定的“反华势力”。批评人士指出，当局实际上是在针对呼吁政府承担更多责任的人。

上个月宏福苑大火后，香港的志愿者。

Mr. Lai’s verdicts will bring attention to what analysts say is Hong Kong’s shrinking tolerance for dissent against the government and free speech, as well as the continued erosion of the “one country, two systems” framework that was supposed to guarantee the city some autonomy from Beijing until 2047.

分析人士表示，黎智英的裁决将再次引发外界对香港政府日益收紧对异议和言论自由容忍度的关注，也凸显了对“一国两制”框架的持续侵蚀，这一框架本应保障香港在2047年前享有一定自治。

The political changes have been largely driven by two national security laws, one imposed by Beijing in 2020 and another law introduced by the Hong Kong government in 2024 that expanded its scope and specifically targeted treason, secession, subversion and sedition. Both laws were largely a response to the widespread and sometimes violent demonstrations that engulfed the Asian financial center in 2019.

这些政治变化主要由两部国家安全法律推动：一部由北京于2020年实施，另一部由香港政府于2024年推出，这部法律扩大了适用范围，明确针对叛国、分裂、颠覆和煽动行为。两部法律在很大程度上是对2019年席卷这一亚洲金融中心、规模广泛且有时伴随暴力的示威活动的回应。

They have served to muzzle much of the once-open forum for debate and discussion in Hong Kong, according to experts.

专家指出，这两部法律已基本扼杀了香港曾经开放的辩论与讨论空间。

Before the hearing on Monday morning, the police were on high alert. As the sun began to rise, dozens of officers jumped out of police vans, spilling into the streets and onto the sidewalks. Officials herded reporters and cameramen into two pens several hours before the trial began. Two officers walked around with bomb-sniffing dogs, and an anti-riot armored vehicle from mainland China, known as the “saber-toothed tiger,” rolled by.

周一早上开庭前，警方处于高度戒备状态。随着太阳升起，数十名警员从警车中跃出，涌上街道和人行道。开庭前数小时，官员将记者和摄影师集中在两个指定区域内。两名警员牵着搜爆犬巡逻，一辆来自中国内地、被称为“剑齿虎”的防暴装甲车驶过。

Emily Lau, a former chair of the Democratic Party, who attended the hearing on Monday, said she could not comment on the verdict. But she had a message for Hong Kong residents who felt impacted by the political changes that have swept through the city in recent years, including the disbanding of the Democratic Party, Hong Kong’s largest opposition party, on Sunday.

民主党前主席刘慧卿周一出席了庭审，她表示，自己无法就裁决发表评论。但她向那些因近年来席卷香港的政治变化而深受影响的香港市民（包括香港最大反对党、于周日解散的民主党）传递了一条信息。

“We have to be tough to survive in such an environment,” said Ms. Lau. “We can see the authorities keep giving people examples of just how tough things are, but life has to go on.”

“在这样的环境中，我们必须坚强才能生存下去，”刘慧卿说。“我们可以看到，当局不断通过一些案例向人们展示现实有多么严酷，但生活仍要继续。”