Hong Kong’s judiciary condemns call by US panel for sanctions on 29 judges who hear national security cases
- Report by US Congressional-Executive Commission on China singles out jurists tasked with hearing national security law cases, including city’s chief justice
- Judiciary says judges act on ‘basis of the law and evidence, and nothing else’
A judiciary spokesman on Friday said attempts to exert pressure on judges were unacceptable, hours after the US Congressional-Executive Commission on China published its report calling for the penalties.
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“Their constitutional duty is to exercise their judicial power independently and professionally in every case, including cases relating to national security, strictly on the basis of the law and evidence, and nothing else,” he said.
The report, titled “One City, Two Legal Systems”, singled out the judges who hear national security cases. It claimed their involvement in such trials had weakened freedom and democracy in Hong Kong.
The security law had created a separate legal system in which the Hong Kong and central governments had “unchecked control over the weakened judiciary”, the advisory body said.
“Some analysts argue that the [national security] law established a de facto parallel legal system where procedural rights are curtailed and substantive rights violated.
“As participants in this system, judges appointed to handle national security cases contribute to these systemic violations. The United States government should consider imposing sanctions on judges to counter the erosion of democratic freedoms in Hong Kong.”
All 29 judges who had been appointed by the chief executive to hear the cases were listed in the document. They included the city’s top judge Andrew Cheung Kui-nung, as well as justices Roberto Ribeiro, Joseph Fok and Johnson Lam Man-hon, who sit on the Court of Final Appeal.
The congressional advisers said the list was compiled using public reports, as the Hong Kong government had refused to disclose the judges’ names. Authorities had said their identities were withheld to protect against doxxing. The report claimed the lack of transparency had diminished the public’s trust in the legal system and weakened judicial independence.
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“The [security law] has created a parallel legal system in which the Hong Kong and [central] governments have unchecked control over the weakened judiciary [and] where basic procedural rights such as jury trial and the presumption of innocence are disregarded,” it said.
“Having undermined the integrity of democratic institutions such as the press and civil society, the national security law regime has become a tool for political repression that has far-reaching effects on freedom in Hong Kong and globally.”
The report also urged US authorities to continue its advocacy for protections for political prisoners in Hong Kong and to devise a robust set of policy tools to counter the “subversion of universal rights” by the central government.
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The Hong Kong Bar Association said it noted with “grave concerns” that the report urged the US to consider imposing sanctions on judges in the city. Attempts by anyone, no matter their location, to interfere with the operation of the independent judiciary must be “sternly deplored and condemned”, the association said.
“The association stresses once again that there is no basis at all to call into question the integrity and independence of Hong Kong judges, whose selection, appointment and discharge of their constitutional role and duties are, and must remain, free from any political considerations and interference,” it said.
The Law Society also condemned the move. “Any attempt to exert pressure by the implementation of sanctions against a judge due to the type of cases that he or she is assigned to handle is an affront to the rule of law and judicial integrity,” the society said.
It also called for respect for the rule of law and an immediate halt to “unfounded allegations”.
The city’s former director of public prosecutions, Grenville Cross, said the report was a politically motivated propaganda document that brought disgrace upon its authors and shame upon the US Congress.
“It is designed to undermine the Hong Kong judiciary and thereby weaken the city’s greatest asset, the rule of law,” Cross said.
Last year, the judiciary hit back at what it labelled an “absolutely unacceptable” call by seven Republican congressmen for sanctions against Hong Kong judges and prosecutors handling national security cases, saying it was a “direct infringement” on the independence of the courts.
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The security law, which bans acts of subversion, secession, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces, was imposed on Hong Kong in June 2020 after months of often violent anti-government protests that were triggered by a now-shelved extradition bill in June 2019.
Under US president Donald Trump in 2020, sanctions were imposed on 11 Hong Kong and mainland Chinese officials, including the city’s then leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu, who was then security chief, was also targeted.
