Applying national anthem law retroactively in Hong Kong is unconstitutional, says former prosecutor
The city’s former director of public prosecutions says the courts would strike down attempts to apply the law to incident that predated its enactment
Former justice minister Elsie Leung Oi-sie’s suggestion that the national anthem law could be retroactively applied in Hong Kong was dismissed on Monday as “unconstitutional” by her top aide while in government.
Leung’s idea would be “struck down by the courts” if adopted by the current government, Grenville Cross, who served alongside Leung as the city’s director of public prosecutions, told the Post.
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“If the proposed national anthem legislation contained a retrospective criminal offence, it would inevitably be struck down by the courts on the basis that it was unconstitutional,” Cross said.
“It is, of course, a fundamental legal principle that the law must be certain, and that people should not be prosecuted for conduct which was not illegal at the time it occurred.”
Leung and Cross were the two most senior justice officials immediately following Hong Kong’s handover from British to Chinese rule in 1997.