Coronavirus: Hong Kong courts consider tech options as fifth of caseload affected by health crisis, top judge reveals
- Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma says judges and judicial officers have been exploring ways to increase court services
- He accepts that courts could conduct hearings with the help of telephones, videoconferencing and other visual aids, subject to feasibility and security
In a statement issued on Wednesday night, Geoffrey Ma Tao-li said judges and judicial officers had been exploring ways to increase court services, after some 18 per cent of the annual caseload at all court levels had been affected since January 29 because of the Covid-19 crisis.
Hong Kong courts and specialised tribunals handled a caseload of 551,276 last year, with the bulk, 332,746, by magistrates.
Defendants on average waited 41 to 51 days from entering a plea to standing trial before a magistrate, while those appearing before a jury in the High Court had to wait 167 days from the date of indictment.
Courts have been closed intermittently since late January, in line with the government’s work-from-home arrangements to tackle the coronavirus outbreak.