Is the Hong Kong judiciary being lenient with young activists?

Michael Chugani says Hong Kong’s top judges, in recent rulings on protest cases, seem to be sympathising with young activists. Are they sending Beijing a message, and what will happen if the inevitable ban on Andy Chan’s separatist party is challenged in court?

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Raphael Wong (second from right, front row) celebrates with others after the Court of Final Appeal overturned his and 12 other activists’ jail sentences for a 2014 protest. Photo: Sam Tsang

Published: 8:00am, 20 Sep 2018Updated: 8:05am, 20 Sep 2018

Have our judges become politicised? Just asking will draw ire from those convinced our judiciary is above reproach. But ask I must because recent court rulings have puzzled me. One of those rulings set off a rant by Beijing loyalist Stanley Ng Chau-pei, who condemned Court of Final Appeal judges as sinners for overturning the jail sentences of 13 activists.

I have long defended how scrupulously Hong Kong’s judges uphold the motto, “Justice is blind”. When Hong Kong’s last governor, Chris Patten, accused the government of using politically motivated charges to persecute three young activists, I wrote here that the government alone cannot persecute. It needs the judiciary to play ball, too.

I refuse to believe judges would conspire to persecute activists the government wants jailed. If anything, recent rulings on several politically charged cases seem to suggest judges actually sympathise with activists. That’s why I wonder if they have become politicised.

About two weeks ago, the Court of Final Appeal overturned jail terms imposed by an appeal court on the 13 activists who tried to storm the Legislative Council in a 2014 protest against government development plans for the New Territories.

Activists clash with police during a protest against a Northeast New Territories development plan, outside the Legislative Council in 2004. Photo: Felix Wong

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