Owen Chow gets a three-day sentence for unauthorized removal of a complaint form – to the Ombudsman about prison officers’ interception of books – from the jail in which he is currently held. His lawyer gets a small fine. Magistrate Ivy Chui…
…cited Chow’s mitigation letter, saying that she had taken into consideration his “loss of faith” in the prison system after repeated incidents, and said she had found no illegal or improper content in the books that were intercepted.
Doesn’t look like the magistrate was hugely impressed with the prosecution. Which makes you wonder whether the government will appeal for a tougher penalty – say 10 days. Chow is serving five years for a riot charge, and faces up to life for participation in the pan-dems’ 2020 primary election.
Non-permanent CFA judge Lord Neuberger considers standing down – from his role at the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute…
Neuberger told the group: “In view of my continuing role as an Overseas Non-Permanent Judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal, I am in the process of considering my position as Chair of the High Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom, in consultation with my Deputy Chairs. I will issue a statement with my decision as soon as practicable…”
Article 19 on the case…
ARTICLE 19 is alarmed at Lord Neuberger’s ongoing presence on the Hong Kong court, which lends credibility to a system actively dismantling the rule of law. We reiterate our call for him to resign. Jimmy Lai, and other pro-democracy campaigners must be immediately and unconditionally released. Hong Kong must protect the freedoms of expression and peaceful protest.
The HK government condemns Chris Patten’s comments about the CFA ruling on Jimmy Lai et al…
The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) today (August 14) strongly condemned and vehemently opposed Chris Patten’s malicious slandering against the judgment of the Court of Final Appeal (CFA) in the case of Lai Chee Ying and others participating in an unauthorised assembly, and his wanton personal vilifications against Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury, an overseas Non-Permanent Judge (NPJ) involved in the adjudication of the relevant appeal.
The HKSAR Government spokesperson said, “Patten’s slandering remarks were made in blatant disregard of the detailed legal analysis by the CFA in its 76-page judgment and the factual background of the relevant case. Such remarks were made for the sole purpose of exerting political pressure on the judges of the CFA who adjudicated the case independently in strict accordance with the law, in an attempt to influence the judicial system of the HKSAR, and were nothing but a despicable political manoeuvre.
“Patten’s criticisms against Lord Neuberger NPJ who handled the relevant case were completely groundless and unjustified personal attacks aiming to smear and slander the NPJ’s reputation, which fully exposed Patten’s malicious attempt to undermine the system of NPJ…
…etc.
I guess the pay and perks for chairing the High Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom are pretty limited…. Although I would have thought his lordship isn’t short of a bob or two. A grubby ending to a glittering career.
These prostitute jurists really do whore themselves out to the highest bidder. I don’t think I will ever respect any judge ever again regardless of the jurisdiction because they all are more than willing to lend their so called “good name” to dictatorships for the right price.
The money, VIP treatment and Gweilo ego massaging are much, much too great to turn down. Maybe he’s thinking “F*ck it…all semblance of ‘rule of law’ and ‘judicial independence’ is lost in Hong Kong so I may as well profit from it all for a few years to pad the old retirement since the system is done and no one believes I’ll make a difference anyway.”
Faust is alive and well in Neuberger.
‘… strongly condemned and vehemently opposed…’
Someone, for the love of god, get these phuqers a Thesaurus
It is time that GRU step in and ask that HKSAR desist from undermining the definition of despicable by applying the term in every petty and petulantly whining demonstration of its existential paranoia.
The thesaurus suggested by Load Toad is a non-starter unfortunately. The only thing HK is interested in from Oxford is ‘talents’- provided they’re ethnic Chinese, preferably born in mainland and graduates of finance or business programs. Definitely not things like books. In HK books are for banning and burning.
I feel it safe to say that soon enough Hong Kong libraries will be done away with (you know, valuable real estate that could be better served as shopping centers or police stations) with the entire catalog shifted to online access by library cardholders that have been properly vetted for patriotic credentials, residency and need-to-access proof. And after all that, the main publications available will be a few dozen books centering on “Xi Jinping Thought” and “National Security Studies”.