Don’t turn prosecution into persecution, head of Hong Kong barrister body warns
Bar Association chairman Philip Dykes urges care and caution from city’s prosecutors following controversy over recent court rulings against activists
The head of Hong Kong’s professional regulatory body for barristers warned the government on Friday not to turn “prosecution” into “persecution”, even as the city’s justice minister said public violence and “rioting” showed a pressing need to educate people on the consequences of flouting the law.
Bar Association chairman Philip Dykes and Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah were both speaking at a ceremony to mark the start of the “Prosecution Week” of activities to publicise the city’s criminal justice system.
Dykes, addressing an audience of mostly prosecutors, said their job was not to exhaust “all the considerable resources of the state to secure a conviction just because they can do so”.
“This is because the prosecution duty is to seek justice and not merely to secure a conviction,” the prominent human rights lawyer said.
Care and caution were required “so the prosecution does not become in the public eye a persecution”, he added.