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Why Hong Kong’s judges may be set for yet another stormy year in 2018
Cliff Buddle says after a year of controversies over high-profile rulings, 2018 will be even more challenging for the Hong Kong judiciary, with final appeals and new politically sensitive cases up for hearing. Which is why supporting its independence is paramount
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Five weeks later, the courts were plunged into what was to be the first of many controversies this year, when seven police officers were jailed by a British judge for beating up a pro-democracy activist during the Occupy protests of 2014.
That decision sparked cries of outrage from supporters of the police officers. The judiciary was mocked in public, foreign judges were accused of being too liberal, and one critic on social media even called for the judge in question to be beaten up.
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Sadly, this was only the beginning. This year has, more than any other since Hong Kong’s return to China in 1997, seen the city’s courts operate in a highly charged political environment, in which their judgments have come under attack.
At times, the reaction has been more akin to a football match. The view taken of this or that judgment has often seemed to depend on which side you support and whether your “team” is deemed to have won or lost the case.
Hong Kong courts face unprecedented social and political challenges, says city’s chief justice
Careful scrutiny of the court’s reasoning has often been drowned out by political slogans and abuse.
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