EU calls for ‘immediate and unconditional’ release of Jimmy Lai after his jail sentence
The European Union has called for the “immediate and unconditional” release of the Hong Kong pro-democracy figure, Jimmy Lai, after he was sentenced to 20 years in prison, the harshest penalty handed down for national security offences in Hong Kong.
In a strongly worded statement released just now, a spokesperson for the EU’s diplomatic service said the EU “deplores the heavy prison sentence” and called for his immediate release, “also in consideration of his advanced age and health condition.”
She added:
“The politically motivated prosecution of Jimmy Lai and the former Apple Daily executives and journalists harms Hong Kong’s reputation.
The EU calls on the Hong Kong authorities to restore confidence in press freedom in Hong Kong, one of the pillars of its historic success as an international financial centre, and to stop prosecuting journalists.”
Key events
Germany charges Ukrainian national over alleged Russian-inspired parcel bomb plot
Meanwhile, Germany has charged a Ukrainian national in connection with allegations of a plot linked to Russian intelligence to detonate parcel packages in Europe, the country’s prosecutors said in a statement.
The prosecutors allege that the man, identified only as Yevhen B., worked with the Russian intelligence services and two other people to send GPS-enabled tracking devices from Cologne to Ukraine to “gather information about shipping routes and transport procedures at the parcel service provider and later to send packages containing incendiary devices.”
“These packages were meant to ignite in Germany or elsewhere en route to parts of Ukraine not occupied by Russia, causing as much damage as possible to undermine the public’s sense of security,” they said.
EU leaders send congratulations to Portugal’s president-elect Seguro
Several EU leaders have taken to social media this morning to pass their congratulations to the Portuguese president-elect Seguro, praising him for big win over his far-right rival.
European Council president António Costa, who beat Seguro to be the Socialist Party’s candidate for prime minister in 2015, said:
“I congratulate António José Seguro on his election as President of the Portuguese Republic and wish him every success in the exercise of his mandate. Today, the Portuguese people demonstrated their commitment to democracy, reaffirming Portugal as a pillar of European humanism.”
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said:
“Congratulations, António José Seguro, on your election as President of Portugal. The Portuguese citizens have spoken and, in the face of devastation caused by the storms, demonstrated remarkable democratic resilience. Portugal’s voice for our shared European values remains strong.”
Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sánchez said:
“Congratulations, António José Seguro, the new President of Portugal! Social democracy advances with your victory.”
A number of other national leaders, including Romania’s president Nicușor Dan and Croatia’s Andrej Plenković, also sent their congratulations.
Portugal elects socialist as president but far-right rival takes record vote share
Sam Jones
Meanwhile in Portugal, the moderate socialist António José Seguro won a resounding victory in the second round of the country’s presidential election on Sunday, triumphing over his far-right opponent, André Ventura, whose Chega party still managed to take a record share of the vote.
The vote to elect a successor to the outgoing president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, was marked by a cross-party push to head off the prospect of a Chega victory, with some senior rightwing figures throwing their weight behind the centre-left candidate to keep Ventura from entering the presidential palace.
Seguro won 66.8% of votes to Ventura’s 33.2% in the election, which went ahead despite weeks of disruption caused by deadly storms.
“The response the Portuguese people gave today, their commitment to freedom, democracy, and the future of our country, leaves me naturally moved and proud of our nation,” said Seguro.
Ventura, a former football pundit, columnist, seminarian and novelist who founded Chega seven years ago, said the result showed that “the message from the Portuguese people is clear”, adding that Chega was now the main party on the right and would “soon be governing Portugal”.
Earlier on Sunday, he had accused “the entire political system” of uniting against him.
Media watchdog RSF says ‘outraged’ by ‘harsh’ Lai sentence
Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) also condemned the 20-year jail sentence handed to Jimmy Lai, urging the UK and others “to intervene” in the case.
“Today, the curtain falls on press freedom in Hong Kong. We are outraged by the harsh sentences handed down to Jimmy Lai,” RSF director general Thibaut Bruttin said in a statement, reported by AFP.
“Democracies, such as the UK and the US, must stop prioritising the normalisation of relations with China and instead exert pressure on the Chinese regime and Hong Kong authorities to ensure that Jimmy Lai and all other journalists are released from prison,” he added.
Lai’s son warns Hong Kong court decision amounts to ‘life sentence’ as ‘time is running out’
Sebastien Lai, Jimmy Lai’s son, has just been speaking to BBC News, offering his first reaction to his father’s overnight sentence.
He said:
“It’s obviously heartbreaking, but unfortunately it’s not unexpected. Look, I think that what was unexpected was that it took five years to get to this point. The last five years, my father has spent in solitary confinement in the maximum security prison.”
He warned that with his father’s age and health conditions, this could essentially be a “life sentence.”
“Unfortunately, time is running out for my father. The clock is ticking at his age, given the conditions and he’s got heart issues. He’s lost ten kilos over the last year alone. Time is not on his side.”
He added that:
“In a time when we’re talking about closer relationships to China, a normalisation of relationships … despite all the national security concerns that we have, rightly so, in this country … if they can’t even put a 78 year old man who’s guilty of nothing more than giving all that he has to stand up for freedom and liberty for the people of Hong Kong on a plane and sending him back here now, especially given his deteriorating health, that tells you all you need to know about the relation that we have with China.”
Ukraine faces ‘one of most challenging electricity situations’ during war, Lviv mayor warns
Jakub Krupa
Lviv mayor Andriy Sadovyi has warned this morning that Ukraine faces “one of the most challenging electricity situations in the past four years” as it nears the fourth anniversary of the full-scale Russian aggression later this month.
The latest overnight Russian strikes killed at least three people in Odesa and Kharkiv, local authorities reported.
Ukraine is seeking to accelerate the peace talks with Russia and the US, after the country’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy revealed that the US administration has given Ukraine and Russia yet another deadline to reach a peace settlement, and is now proposing the war should end by June.
Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said on Sunday that Kyiv was “ready to speed up peace efforts,” as he thanked for the US leadership on the issue.
“It is up to Russia to demonstrate its willingness to advance diplomacy instead of war. So far, we can only see new strikes and disregard for peace efforts,” he said.
He also repeated his call to put more pressure on Moscow “so that it starts treating peace efforts seriously.”
Elsewhere, we will be looking at reactions to last night’s presidential vote in Portugal, and other stories breaking across the continent.
It’s Monday, 9 February 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
EU calls for ‘immediate and unconditional’ release of Jimmy Lai after his jail sentence
The European Union has called for the “immediate and unconditional” release of the Hong Kong pro-democracy figure, Jimmy Lai, after he was sentenced to 20 years in prison, the harshest penalty handed down for national security offences in Hong Kong.
In a strongly worded statement released just now, a spokesperson for the EU’s diplomatic service said the EU “deplores the heavy prison sentence” and called for his immediate release, “also in consideration of his advanced age and health condition.”
She added:
“The politically motivated prosecution of Jimmy Lai and the former Apple Daily executives and journalists harms Hong Kong’s reputation.
The EU calls on the Hong Kong authorities to restore confidence in press freedom in Hong Kong, one of the pillars of its historic success as an international financial centre, and to stop prosecuting journalists.”
