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Minister attempts to soothe Hong Kong justice fears
Hong Kong's top justice minister has attempted to reassure the residents of the former British colony that principles of open and fair trials are being upheld 15 years after the territory was handed back to the Chinese.
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Speaking at the opening of Hong Kong’s inaugural ‘prosecution week’, Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen SC said his department ‘will continue to uphold its long-standing commitment in ensuring a fair and effective administration of the criminal justice system for the welfare and benefit of all the people of Hong Kong.’
Transparency
The justice secretary continued by saying the prosecution division of his department had developed ‘the culture of promoting greater transparency in prosecutorial work and practice’.
Whether his diplomatically-couched words will placate civil liberties and democracy activists in Hong Kong is another matter. The Economist magazine reported recently that hundreds of thousands of demonstrators flooded the island-city’s streets at the beginning of this month to protest against a visit by China’s president, Hu Jintao.
Levels of social freedom were protected for 50 years by the Sino-British handover agreement, but campaigners are still worried that the communist party wants to encroach into Hong Kong. Demonstrators greeted the Chinese president with placards stating: ‘Put an end to one-party dictatorship’.
