TRS Trial: Yang Kaiheng, husband of Ai Takagi, to plead guilty to sedition charges

The 27-year-old editor and his wife, Ai Takagi were charged with eight counts under Sedition Act.

Yang Kaiheng, the former editor of sociopolitical website The Real Singapore (TRS), told the court on Wednesday that he intends to plead guilty to charges under the Sedition Act.

The 27-year-old editor and his wife Ai Takagi were charged with seven counts of sedition over articles which were published on the now-defunct website in April last year and an eighth count of failing to produce documents regarding the website's advertising revenue to the police.

At first, both had denied using the website as a medium "promote feelings of ill-will and hostility between different classes of the population of Singapore". The posts were targeted to foreigners from the Philippines, India and China.

Yang's trial was scheduled to be on Wednesday but the court has adjourned it till Friday. When the court resumes on Friday, he is expected to plead guilty to six counts of sedition.

However, Yang's wife is currently serving a 10-month jail term after she admitted to publishing "patently false" information on TRS, to give rise to anti-foreigner sentiments in Singapore. Earlier this year she pleaded guilty to four counts under the Sedition Act.

Under the Sedition Act, Yang will face a maximum punishment of three years' jail and/or a fine of up to S$5,000 per charge.

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