Legal official defends decision to charge Korean protesters

Director of Public Prosecutions Grenville Cross SC yesterday defended the government's decision to press charges against the Korean WTO protesters, the last of whom was acquitted last week.

Charges were pressed against 14 Korean protesters for taking part in the anti-globalisation rally on December 17, out of the more than 1,000 initially detained. Charges against 12 were eventually dropped while the other two were acquitted.

Mr Cross said the acquittals did not mean the decision to prosecute was flawed. 'Any prosecutor can only prosecute if strict criteria are met,' he said. 'Prosecutors never secure victory and never sustain defeat. We satisfied ourselves that there was a reasonable prospect of securing conviction.'

Speaking at the yearly review of the prosecutions division of the Department of Justice, Mr Cross said of speculation he may be leaving the department that his contract was due to end in six months but he had applied for an extension.

'I have already served three terms - which is unprecedented in Hong Kong history,' he said. 'Having consulted my family, I have applied for a fourth term.'

In response to concerns of low morale in the prosecutions division, Mr Cross said the department's prosecutors had been 'under massive strain' in the past few years, having to grapple with many new areas of expertise, such as money laundering, terrorism, the Basic Law, Court of Final Appeal and rights cases, without adequate resources. A number of senior prosecutors have recently retired.