Hong Kong’s outgoing top judge yesterday said that calls for reform of the territory’s judiciary cannot be based on dissatisfaction with court rulings, as pro-Beijing figures and state-owned media step up criticism of the territory’s legal system.
“[The] judiciary’s position has all along been the same. If there’s any room for improvement, we will pursue it. We will consider it,” Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma (馬道立), 64, said at a news conference ahead of his retirement on Sunday.
Ma, who was born in Hong Kong and educated in Britain, said that the judiciary was open to reform if it meant improving what they do.
Photo: AFP
“But it’s not particularly satisfactory if there’s a call for reforms simply on the basis of a result one doesn’t like,” he said. “It is certainly not a good starting point or acceptable to say: ‘I want reforms to ensure that I will always get the result which I want.’”
“What we need most is judicial independence in Hong Kong,” he said. “There are three articles in the Basic Law emphasizing that Hong Kong has judicial independence, this is what we should remember the most,” he added.
In the past few weeks, Chinese officials and state-owned media have accused the territory’s courts of misinterpreting Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law, in rulings relating to last year’s pro-democracy protests.
Hong Kong employs a common law legal system, and its judiciary often makes judgements public in efforts to be transparent.
In contrast, China’s opaque justice system has been criticized for being frequently abusive.
Hong Kong’s freedoms have come under pressure as Beijing has asserted more control over the territory in the past year — including implementing a sweeping National Security Law — following months of anti-government protests.
Democracy supporters and government loyalists have both criticized decisions they dislike, but calls to overhaul the judiciary have so far only come from pro-Beijing figures.
Last month, China’s state-owned People’s Daily lashed out at a Hong Kong judge’s decision to grant bail to Jimmy Lai (黎智英), an outspoken pro-democracy activist and tycoon who founded the Apple Dail newspaper.
A month earlier, Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office Deputy Director Zhang Xiaoming (張曉明) called for judicial reform in Hong Kong, citing a retired judge who has been highly critical of a court ruling that a ban on masks during last year’s protests was unconstitutional.
Criticism of judges had peaked last year, prompting Ma’s office to issue an “unprecedented” number of statements, he said, but he rejected concerns that such pressure would impact judges’ impartiality.
“In the handling of cases, judges are going to look only at the law, legal principle and the spirit of the law,” he said.
“I would urge anybody who writes about the work of the judiciary to come to views objectively, based on objective facts,” Ma said, adding that people should look at the rulings issued by the judiciary because they show the reasoning employed to arrive at a result.
Ma was among a panel of judges who last week revoked bail for Lai, who is facing charges related to national security.
The panel found it was “reasonably arguable” that the previous judge’s decision to grant bail could have been erroneous.
Ma is to be succeeded by Andrew Cheung (張舉能), a fellow permanent judge on the Court of Final Appeal.
Additional reporting by AFP
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