Former top prosecutor in Hong Kong calls on UK foreign minister to apologise to barrister trying opposition figures

British minister Dominic Raab said David Perry was handing Beijing a PR victory in taking up the case, pointing to concerns over the national security law

But as former top prosecutor Grenville Cross notes, the case concerns a protest in 2019, long before the legislation was adopted

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David Perry QC has played a role in the prosecution of several of the most prominent cases in Hong Kong in recent years. Photo: Dickson Lee

Published: 12:01am, 19 Jan 2021Updated: 3:38am, 19 Jan 2021

British foreign secretary Dominic Raab owed a prominent Queen’s Counsel an apology for calling him “mercenary” and claiming he was giving Beijing a “PR coup” by trying nine Hong Kong opposition figures, the city’s former top prosecutor said on Monday.

Former director of public prosecutions Grenville Cross believed Raab had accused David Perry QC of acting at the behest of Beijing without knowing the trial was unrelated to the national security law.

Raab made his comments after the High Court gave approval for the veteran barrister to lead the prosecution of media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying and eight others for their alleged roles in an anti-government rally in 2019, long before the security law was adopted.

[Raab’s] remarks are not only foolish, but also flawed; they smack of grandstanding, rather than reason

Grenville Cross, former director of public prosecutions

“I don’t understand how anyone of good conscience, from the world-leading legal profession that we have, would take a case where they will have to apply the national security legislation at the behest of the authorities in Beijing, which is directly violating, undermining the freedom of the people of Hong Kong,” Raab said in an interview with British media.

“I understand in the case of Mr Perry, in relation to the pro-democracy activists, and of course from Beijing’s point of view, this would be a serious PR coup … Frankly, I think people watching this would regard it as pretty mercenary to be taking up that kind of case.”

British foreign secretary Dominic Raab hit out at David Perry in comments to the British media. Photo: Reuters

The Post has contacted Perry and Hong Kong’s Department of Justice for comment.

Cross found it “regrettable” Raab had impugned Perry’s integrity without knowing the coming trial was unrelated to the security law. He believed the foreign secretary was prepared to criticise the legal heavyweight on the basis of an “erroneous” scenario.