AFP reports that the first NatSec case before the Hong Kong courts will not have a jury. There are three grounds for dispensing with a jury in NatSec cases (which are heard by special NatSec judges chosen by the Beijing-appointed government). One is that state secrets would be discussed in court; another is that the trial involves foreign forces.
Neither remotely applies in this case: the accused is Tong Ying-kit, who held a ‘Liberate Hong Kong’ flag (‘incitement to secession’) while driving his motorbike through a group of cops (‘terrorist activities’) during the 2019 protests. So that leaves only the third flimsy excuse: the personal safety of jurors and their families. Presumably, this will be the catch-all reason for never having juries – and any risk of their pesky not-guilty verdicts – in NatSec cases (maximum sentences for which are life).
The AFP story ends…
Inside China, criminal courts have no juries, answer to the party and have a near-universal conviction rate.
Also, in political cases on the Mainland, defendants’ lawyers are often barred from representing their client and/or subject to intimidation themselves. Only a matter of time before that happens here.
But did anyone seriously imagine the CCP would tolerate a jury? It can’t even handle its people discussing sensitive subjects. Only a matter of time…
At this point it’s naïve to think even the press will be allowed in the courtroom.
Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor told reporters her government was “strictly enforcing” the policy that Hong Kong residents of Chinese descent who were born in the city or on the mainland were considered Chinese nationals and therefore not entitled to British
consular protection.
Does the so-called CE assume that the rest of the world is as pig-excrement thick as she is herself? The diplomatic protocol on dual nationality has been the custom in the world since dual nationality was invented so her claim of “strict enforcement” is utter bullshit.
And while we are on the subject of porcine-excremental intelligence does Superintendent Ho Ho-ho (as he really should be called) really expect us to believe that Asia’s so-called Finest have cracked a major terrorist operation run by a computer programmer and renovation worker (who did not have any political affiliations that officers could find) just in time to save us from a major bloody protest before, at or, after CNY?
The sad bit is that a government should be rooting for its flock. More passports means more options and flexibility, better business and other opportunities.
That the very people who have benefited most from relaxed conditions, Carrie’s and CY’s families being good examples, are taking the hard-line is a sad indictment of our times.