Chief justice defends Hong Kong leader’s powers to handpick judges - South China Morning Post
Chief Justice Andrew Cheung. Photo: May Tse
Hong Kong’s chief justice on Monday defended the arrangement which allows the city leader to handpick judges hearing national security cases and dismissed what he described as “unsubstantiated doubts” over judicial independence.
“Criticisms of court decisions which are made without first ascertaining the facts in a case or reading and understanding the reasons for the court’s decision are as meaningless as they are hollow. So is any unsubstantiated doubt over the court’s independence,” Chief Justice Andrew Cheung Kui-nung said, in an inaugural speech on Monday to launch the new judicial year.
“Judicial independence in Hong Kong exists as a fact.”
Cheung highlighted a special arrangement, under Article 44 of the Beijing-decreed law, which granted Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor the power to select judges to oversee national security cases.
“It is of course not my role as head of the judiciary to make extrajudicial comments on the law or its operation,” he said.
“However, it is conducive to public confidence in our judicial system to assure the community that, from the judiciary’s perspective, there is no question of the impartiality of our courts being affected by this special arrangement.”
British ex-top judge to quit Hong Kong’s highest court over security law
The chief justice also said that Lam could consult him before selecting judges to hear national security cases and he could also recommend candidates.
The cases assigned to the designated judges were also chosen by the judiciary instead of the administration, he added, with appointees being subject to their oath of office.
“This means that no political or other personal considerations of the judge can be entertained in the judicial decision-making process,” he said.
Hong Kong judges have faced public scrutiny in the past year, with at least five receiving threatening letters in the past three months after handling cases related to the 2019 social unrest and the national security law.
Cheung, who previously condemned a rising tide of attacks on judges over politically charged court cases last year, also said that such attempts were “completely futile and pointless” and would not affect the work of the courts.
He said that “attempts to intimate” or “exert improper pressure” on judges were on the rise, criticising them as “a direct affront to the rule of law and judicial independence”.
source: https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3164532/national-security-law-hong-kong-chief-justice-defends
Your content is great. However, if any of the content contained herein violates any rights of yours, including those of copyright, please contact us immediately by e-mail at media[@]kissrpr.com.