Hong Kong
CNN
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Hong Kong’s chief stated he’ll ask Beijing to find out whether or not international legal professionals can work on nationwide safety circumstances within the metropolis, a transfer with repercussions for the upcoming trial of jailed pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai.
The announcement got here Monday, hours after the Court docket of Last Attraction (CFA), town’s highest courtroom, upheld a decrease courtroom’s verdict to permit British barrister Timothy Owen to symbolize Lai in a landmark nationwide safety case that had been because of begin on Thursday.
Lai, 74, is probably the most high-profile critic of Beijing charged beneath Hong Kong’s sweeping national security law and faces a most sentence of life in jail on fees of colluding with international forces. He additionally faces one cost beneath a colonial-era sedition law.
The federal government had sought a “blanket ban” on international legal professionals engaged on nationwide safety circumstances, besides in distinctive circumstances, which might have seen Owen faraway from the case.
When the CFA ruling went in opposition to the federal government, Hong Kong Chief Govt John Lee stated Monday he would ask China’s Nationwide Folks’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) to intervene.
In keeping with a press release, Lee desires Beijing to determine whether or not legal professionals who’re “not certified to practise typically” in Hong Kong can take part in nationwide safety circumstances.
Lee’s transfer follows repeated makes an attempt by Hong Kong’s Division of Justice to forestall Owen from representing Lai.
“At current, there are not any efficient means to make sure that a counsel from abroad won’t have battle of curiosity due to his (nationwide curiosity),” Lee informed a information convention. “And there are additionally no means to make sure that he has not been coerced, compromised or in any approach managed by international governments, associations or individuals.”
This may be the sixth time the NPCSC has made an interpretation on Hong Kong’s legal guidelines for the reason that metropolis was handed over from Britain to China 1997.
Lee stated the federal government will search an adjournment to Lai’s trial in the course of the course of.
Lai, whose pro-democracy tabloid Apple Day by day was pressured to close down after a police raid final 12 months, has been remanded in custody for nearly two years. He was sentenced to 13 months in prison in 2021 for taking part in an unauthorized protest.
In August, the tycoon requested to rent Owen to steer his protection, which sparked a authorized debate over whether or not international legal professionals ought to take up authorized illustration on nationwide safety legislation circumstances.
For the reason that handover, Hong Kong has maintained the frequent legislation system inherited from British rule.
Its unbiased judiciary and rule of legislation have lengthy been deemed key to town’s success as a worldwide monetary middle. The town’s authorized system permits abroad judges within the metropolis’s courts, and legal professionals from different frequent legislation jurisdictions can work on circumstances the place their experience is required.
Nonetheless, China’s ruling Communist Celebration moved to deliver Hong Kong in keeping with its authoritarian rule by bypassing town’s legislature to implement the safety legislation in response to anti-government protests that rocked town in 2019.
Circumstances beneath the laws are dealt with by a devoted department of the Hong Kong police and designated nationwide safety judges, elevating concern about Beijing’s potential affect on proceedings.
The Hong Kong authorities has repeatedly denied criticism that the legislation has stifled freedoms, claiming as an alternative it has restored order within the metropolis after the 2019 protests.
