Fugitive former lawmaker Ted Hui’s legal bid against withdrawal of protest cases quashed as he ‘despises’ court, judge says
- Former Democratic Party member had lodged cases against officer who shot protester and cab driver accused of ramming vehicle into crowd, but these were dismissed by justice secretary
- Judge says it would be an ‘affront’ and ‘disrepute’ to justice, if Hui, who fled city while out on bail, were to invoke court jurisdiction against the move
A Hong Kong judge has barred fugitive former lawmaker Ted Hui Chi-fung from challenging the justice’s minister withdrawal of two private prosecution bids stemming from the anti-government protests of 2019, on grounds that he “despises” the court.
Mr Justice Alex Lee Wan-tang of the High Court refused to grant Hui’s application for a judicial review on Friday, ordering him to foot the secretary for justice’s legal costs on an indemnity basis, after taking into account his conduct in “misleading” the court when he fled the city.
The former Democratic Party lawmaker had mounted the challenge last November, seeking to quash the justice secretary’s “illegal and unconstitutional” decisions to end his cases against a police officer who shot a protester and a taxi driver who allegedly rammed his vehicle into a crowd of demonstrators.
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But Hui, who had left Hong Kong with the court’s permission to attend a conference in Denmark last November, did not appear at the hearing in March. He had been out on bail and facing a raft of charges tied to the protests. While in Denmark, he then declared he was in self-exile, travelling next to Britain, then Australia, where he is now based.
On Friday, Lee noted “a fugitive from justice was not as such precluded from enforcing his rights through the courts”, or that would mean his property and other rights could be breached with impunity so long as he remained on the run.
“That could not be right,” he wrote. “Such harshness has no place in the law that knows no principle of fugitive disentitlement.”
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The doctrine of “fugitive disentitlement”, as explained in the 26-page judgment, was developed under common law in the United States to prevent fugitive criminal defendants from pursuing their appeal rights in absentia. Hui’s counsel Philip Ross submitted that this did not form part of British law.
But Lee also noted that neither Hui nor his legal team denied the court’s observation that there was information to suggest Hui might have “provided misleading information to the court when he applied for permission to leave Hong Kong and then failed to return as promised”.
“Hui’s conduct shows that he has no regard at all for the dignity and authority of the court and the administration of justice,” Lee said, echoing an argument from the Department of Justice.
“As such, it would also be an affront to the public conscience, and would bring the administration of justice into disrepute, if he were able to invoke this court’s jurisdiction, which he despises, for his own ends.”
Lee also noted that Hui did not have the right to judicial review, as such a remedy was discretionary in nature and he did not have any private interest in the two prosecutions in question.
