Former Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Lai is fighting charges of colluding with foreign forces to endanger national security and conspiring with others to issue seditious publications.

Jimmy Lai, the pugnacious Hong Kong media tycoon whose now shuttered tabloid Apple Daily was a regular thorn in Beijing’s side, took the stand Wednesday in his own defense for the first time in a high stakes national security trial that could send him to prison for life.

The media tycoon, who is accused of masterminding pro-democracy protests, testified at his trial for the first time. He could be sent to prison for life.