The Secretary for Justice, Mr Lam Ting-kwok, was interviewed by "Hong Kong 01" and other media, and mentioned the key tasks of the "Policy Address", including promoting the rule of law in Hong Kong to the general public and at home and abroad, promoting legal services, and linking the legal system of the Mainland to give full play to the strengths of Hong Kong.
He believes that the law is not just to serve big companies, but to treat all citizens equally and benefit from it.
Talking about the relationship between the "Hong Kong National Security Law" and the common law system and the rule of law, Lin Dingguo pointed out that the rights of Hong Kong people will continue to be protected without any changes. He also pointed out that as long as there is a fair opportunity, he is absolutely willing to go to some unfriendly to China. The country, including explaining the "National Security Law" in the United States, preaching the rule of law in Hong Kong, and convincing people with reason.
When asked about some cases of public concern, such as the pro-democracy primary election case where the defendant has been "prisoned without trial" for the past two years, Lin Dingguo believes that high-threshold bail also exists in other common law areas. It's not too long.
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I hope the form of legal services in Hong Kong is like a "food center", there can be high-end restaurants, like Michelin-star restaurants, but at the same time there will be very common people, like eating a bowl of wonton noodles, fried rice porridge Ghosts can too.
Secretary for Justice Lam Ting-kwok
Law "can be Michelin or wonton noodles"
Lam Ting-kwok pointed out that the word "rule of law" covers a very wide range. In the future, the Department of Justice will strengthen the coordination of rule of law education and training of publicity leaders. The goal is to launch the "Legal Education Leaders Training Program" in the third quarter of next year. We have a deeper understanding of the National Security Law and the advantages of Hong Kong's common law system. However, the Department of Justice alone is not enough for this, so we must work with other relevant policy bureaus, law schools, etc. to do this.
He hopes that the education of the rule of law will target the general public, and explain with simple and easy-to-understand examples: "The focus should not only be on the provisions, of course, the provisions are also very important and basic, but more importantly, everyone must understand why the law is written in this way. , what purpose is to be achieved. Further, it must be considered from a historical point of view, even at the national level. The environment facing the country today, how (the law) can help citizens live a happy and stable life.”
In addition, Lin Dingguo also attaches great importance to promoting Hong Kong's legal services, promoting arbitration, dispute resolution and other services, not only to improve the legal structure, but also to do more publicity work to promote the culture of mediation in the society. This is not only to serve large enterprises, but also to take care of Every Hong Kong citizen.
He cited an analogy that he often mentioned to his colleagues: "I hope that the legal service in Hong Kong will be like a 'food center', with high-end restaurants, like Michelin-starred restaurants, but at the same time, there will be very civilian-style restaurants. , like eating a bowl of wonton noodles, or fried porridge with white porridge, each is suitable, and those in need will definitely find a (service) that meets their needs, resources, and other aspects.”
In addition to being connected to the international community, Hong Kong's advantages are also important to relying on the motherland. Therefore, Lin Dingguo emphasized that Hong Kong should cooperate and connect with the legal system of the Mainland. Good start.
Cooperation in other areas, such as the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, is sometimes limited by practical problems such as document delivery and the lack of widespread application of technology, which hinders legal service cooperation.
He has instructed Deputy Director Zhang Guojun to set up a task force by the end of this year to study and promote measures to promote the integration of legal practices in the two places.
Secretary for Justice Lam Ting-kwok.
(Photo by Liang Pengwei)
The fall in the ranking of the rule of law may be due to some people's lack of understanding of Hong Kong
To tell the story of the rule of law in Hong Kong well, it is inevitable to seek international recognition.
According to the latest "2022 Rule of Law Index" released by the "World Justice Project", Hong Kong dropped 3 places compared with last year, ranking 22nd among 140 countries and regions in the world, the lowest since entering the statistics in 2014, and the 1st place in the Asia-Pacific region. 6, behind Singapore and South Korea.
Lin Dingguo responded that Hong Kong's rule of law has a very high status in the world. As an international financial center, foreigners are willing to do business and investment in Hong Kong. He believes that ranking 22 is a good position, and it is very common to "go up and down". Some of these sub-items, such as the Integrity Index, Order and Safety, rank in the top 10 in the world, and the results are quite good.
As for the scores of some sub-items such as human rights and freedom, he believes that it may be related to the fact that some people do not understand the situation in Hong Kong: "I have also participated in (similar scoring activities) before, in the form of inviting some people to give an overall impression. Some guesses and scores are obtained. Some people have some unfavorable thoughts (about Hong Kong), where does this concept come from? Of course, it is other people’s comments on Hong Kong.” He pointed out that the global geopolitical situation is complicated, and it is inevitable to have a negative attitude towards countries and Hong Kong. There are some malicious smears, which lead to insufficient understanding of Hong Kong by some people.
Recently, the full text of the report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China mentioned the need to "improve the judicial system and legal system of the SAR". Lin Dingguo believes that there is no need to over-interpret it. Any system must be prepared for danger in times of safety. Keep up with the times.
He stressed that no one is ever above the law, including the government.
All defendants in these cases have the right to apply for bail, and not all of them will be imprisoned. The National Security Law does not exclude the right to bail.
Secretary for Justice Lam Ting-kwok
The defendant in the primary election case has been in the past two years, "the time is not particularly long"
During his visit, Lin Dingguo repeatedly mentioned one of Hong Kong's major advantages. It is the only jurisdiction in China that implements the common law system. The courts exercise independent judicial power. This is also the key point mentioned by President Xi Jinping in his "July 1 speech". one.
However, in the "post-national security law" Hong Kong, some things have happened that make the society have different opinions on this, especially Article 42 of the "Hong Kong National Security Law" states that "for criminal suspects and defendants, unless the judge has sufficient reasons to believe that they will not Those who will continue to commit acts endangering national security shall not be granted bail.” In a legal forum last July, Deng Zhonghua, then deputy director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, described this as “the principle of non-bail and the exception of bail.”
Among them, in the pro-democracy primary election case, the defendants have been charged since the end of February last year, and the trial has not yet officially started, but only 15 of the 47 defendants have been granted bail (2 of them are accused of violating the bail conditions and must be repaid). The rest were imprisoned for nearly two years without trial.
Lin Dingguo said: "After I took office, I specifically asked my colleagues in the Prosecution Division whether the time of this kind of case was particularly long? The information I got was that they (the defendants in the primary election) were not held for a longer time than other ordinary criminals. The leader of the case. More importantly, all the defendants in these cases have the right to apply for bail, and they may not be locked up. The National Security Law does not exclude the right to bail. The defendant has the right to ask the court to make a ruling.” He also I hope you will learn more about the court's rulings, such as convictions and bail arrangements, and not just look at the results of the verdict. The legal rationale for the trial process is also very important: "Jumping to the conclusion of 'violating human rights and freedoms' is not a problem. The rational approach is not to just look at the conclusion based on intuition.”
Prosecution work does not require "running": it is best for everyone to consciously abide by the law
When asked whether the strict bail conditions were actually different from the common law "presumption of innocence" principle, Lin Dingguo expressed his disagreement, acknowledging that the bail requirements of the "Hong Kong National Security Law" are different from other laws, but the general provisions of the "Hong Kong National Security Law" have been It states in black and white that human rights should be respected and protected when safeguarding national security, and the rights and freedoms of Hong Kong residents under the Basic Law and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights should be protected in accordance with the law. There is no question of overturning the "presumption of innocence". The principle that there can be no second instance and that the law can only punish those who violate the law has not changed.
He also quoted the judgment of the Court of Final Appeal on the bail dispute in Lai Jimmy Ying's case, saying that the high threshold of bail conditions "is not unique to Hong Kong. Many other common law jurisdictions will also balance the considerations of all parties when dealing with some major cases. , including the overall interests of society, have similar or even stricter bail systems and conditions.”
When asked if there are "Key Performance Indicators" (KPIs) in the prosecution of the "Hong Kong National Security Law", Lin Dingguo pointed out that the "Hong Kong National Security Law" is a serious law whose purpose is to prevent, stop and punish acts endangering national security, not all Everything is suitable for using KPI. The Department of Justice will act according to the prosecution code and decide whether to prosecute based on evidence. "Our KPI is the principle of adhering to the law." Even the ideal situation is that everyone consciously abides by the law and does not need to use this law at all.
▼Most of the defendants in the pro-democracy primary election cases have been in custody for nearly two years▼
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If they are really reasonable, then ask them to convince people with reason, and on what basis do they feel entitled and reasonable to do something that I think is very oppressive, absolutely unreasonable, and even illegal in international law Woolen cloth?
What's the point?
I am all ears.
I'm pretty confident that after hearing this, there will be good reasons to argue that there is absolutely no reason for them to do these things.
Secretary for Justice Lam Ting-kwok
To America to preach the rule of law?
Lin: Not afraid of anywhere
In the work indicators of the "Policy Address", the Department of Justice mentioned that it will lead a publicity group composed of local legal professionals to visit ASEAN member states, other Southeast Asian, Middle East and African countries from next year, but in fact there are doubts about the state of the rule of law in Hong Kong All are Western countries led by the United States.
When asked why there is such a difference, Lin Dingguo pointed out that it is impossible to list all the destinations when writing the work goals, but he believes that the emerging markets mentioned above are places that Hong Kong has paid less attention to in the past, and new opportunities need to be developed. Special attention, but there are currently no plans to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in November.
Lin Dingguo stated that he would not underestimate the difficulty of publicizing the rule of law in Hong Kong and the risk of sanctions that individuals may face.
The U.S. Congressional-Executive Committee on China (CECC) issued a report earlier, naming and recommending sanctions against Lin Dingguo and 15 criminal prosecutors related to the case. When asked if he planned to go to the United States to "fight", he said: "I am also confident. I will not be afraid to go anywhere when I explain, the most important thing is that I will go when I have a fair chance to answer, and if I have a fair chance, I am willing to have a rational discussion or even debate with them.”
Interview︱Lin Dingguo: It was not expected beforehand that there would be problems with needle-free paper. Taking into account the public interest, the decision to amend the policy address. ︱political affairs town