Hong Kong trials for offences in mainland China will not work, top legal scholar Albert Chen says

Putting those accused of breaking mainland laws on trial in Hong Kong could be in breach of Basic Law, professor warns

The academic had earlier hailed idea, raised by lawmaker Michael Tien, as deserving ‘further study and serious consideration’

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Albert Chen said a lot of Hong Kong laws would need to be amended for the proposal. Photo: May Tse

Published: 9:40pm, 3 Jun 2019Updated: 12:07pm, 4 Jun 2019

A renowned Beijing-friendly legal scholar in Hong Kong has backtracked on a proposal to exempt residents from being sent to mainland China for trial under the controversial extradition bill.

Professor Albert Chen Hung-yee, of the University of Hong Kong, said on Monday the idea of putting those accused of breaking mainland laws on trial locally, which he previously hailed as deserving “further study and serious consideration”, could be in breach of the Basic Law, the city’s mini-constitution.

The bill, if passed, will allow the transfer of fugitives to jurisdictions the city does not have an extradition deal with, including the mainland and Taiwan.

Chen, a constitutional law expert, said adopting such an exemption would mean asking the courts in Hong Kong, where the common law was used, to apply civil law standards, on which the mainland legal system was based, to hear cases.

Hong Kong uses a different legal system from mainland China. Photo: Sam Tsang

“The Basic Law says mainland laws won’t apply in Hong Kong unless they are those listed in Annex III,” said Chen, who also sits on the Basic Law Committee, which advises the country’s top legislature on Hong Kong’s constitutional matters.