Hong Kong (AFP) - A Hong Kong court on Wednesday allowed a veteran British lawyer to represent jailed pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai at his upcoming national security trial despite opposition from city authorities.
Lai and a group of executives from the now-shuttered Apple Daily newspaper are being prosecuted for "colluding with foreign forces", an offence under a new security law China imposed on Hong Kong to stamp out dissent.
The trial is set to start in December and last for 30 days.
Lai's legal team had wanted him to be represented by Tim Owen, a London-based lawyer, but the application was opposed by both Hong Kong's secretary for justice and Bar Association.
On Wednesday Jeremy Poon, chief judge of Hong Kong's High Court, ruled in favour of allowing Owen to represent Lai.
"It is clearly in the public interest to admit an overseas specialist as eminent as Mr Owen so that the court will have the best assistance to tackle the formidable task at hand," Poon wrote in his judgement.
Lawyers from common law jurisdictions are able to work within Hong Kong's legal system, particularly for cases where their specific expertise may be required.
Owen is a king's counsel -- a senior trial lawyer in Britain -- and a member of the international firm Matrix Chambers.
He has previously worked in Hong Kong's courts including as a lead defence lawyer for British banker Rurik Jutting who was convicted of murdering two women.
He also represented a police officer who appealed a conviction for assaulting a democracy protester in 2014.
The parties opposed to Owen's appointment argued Lai's national security trial was not especially complex and that the British lawyer would not "add a significant dimension".
But Poon disagreed.
"This case will be of immense importance to the development of local jurisprudence on the application of the National Security Law and the protection of the freedom of expression," he wrote.
Lai, 74, is one of Hong Kong's best-known pro-democracy activists.He faces up to life in prison if convicted.
He is already in jail for taking part in an illegal protest.
For years, his Apple Daily tabloid newspaper was scathing in its criticism of China's Communist Party and openly supportive of democracy.
It collapsed last year after its funds were frozen under the security law and many of its senior staff were charged alongside Lai, primarily for their campaigning for international sanctions against China.
