HK residents call for external supervision over judges and magistrates

Source:Globaltimes.cn Published: 2019/11/6 2:40:40

Photo: AFP


Hong Kong legal professionals and civil groups have called for local judges and magistrates to receive supervision from city residents who are disappointed at the court's alleged connivance and double standards over rioters in the past five months while Hong Kong police were risking their lives to bring rioters to justice.

An article in the Hong Kong-based Wenweipo said that some local civil groups have launched a "resident supervision" campaign calling for accountability of judges and magistrates as judicial justice had been destroyed in the past five months as violence vandalized the city.

Hong Kong police have arrested about 2,700 rioters, but most of them have been bailed and no one has been sentenced. Those rioters returned to the front line without any punishment, which is the reason why they acted so unscrupulously, the article said citing an anonymous legal professional.

Amid Hong Kong courts' lenience over rioters, some media have reported that the Hong Kong government was considering special amnesty to the arrested rioters and radical protesters.

Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam refuted the reports in Shanghai on Tuesday, saying that pardoning the rioters and protesters who carried out illegal activities is against the spirit of the rule of law.

Hong Kong pro-West separatist and activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung has been released on bail twice; 17 rioters arrested for violent actions on July 28 were also released on bail and two of them jumped bail.

"The rioters are paying too little price, they are still freely entering and exiting Hong Kong and get the chance to jump bail, no wonder the unrest does not quiet down," said the legal professional. "It is time for honorable judges and magistrates to receive supervision from residents."

The article also pointed out the perceived double standards of some courts as a rioter was only sentenced to 200 hours of community service for insulting the national flag, while a man from the mainland was sentenced to four weeks in prison for doodling on the gate of US Consulate in Hong Kong and Macao.

At least three measures have to be conducted in order to set up civil supervision over courts, according to the legal professional: First, open the case to the public; second, clarify the name of the presiding judge to increase transparency; and third, explain the basis for judgments.

The legal professional noted that resident supervision over the judicial system is an international convention applied in many countries to help improve the fairness of sentencing. For example, in the US, judges should not only be supervised by internal departments in the judicial system, but also external supervision by the public and the media.



Posted in: HK/MACAO/TAIWAN

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