Let Hong Kong courts judge overseas murder cases involving Hongkongers instead of extraditing on case-by-case basis, says Bar Association
- The professional body says concerns over mainland China’s judicial system mean fugitives should not be handed over by Hong Kong
- The Security Bureau has proposed one-off reciprocal transfer of fugitives to jurisdictions Hong Kong has no extradition treaty with, including mainland China
The professional body for barristers in Hong Kong has proposed allowing courts to judge overseas murder cases in which residents of the city are suspects or victims.
The Hong Kong Bar Association also said a government plan to introduce one-off arrangements to transfer fugitives that would cover mainland China and other parts of the world was too loose and lacked appropriate safeguards.
In a 22-page paper released on Monday, the association advanced alternative proposals.
These include widening the scope of local criminal laws to cover overseas murder cases involving Hong Kong permanent residents or restricting the one-off transfer of fugitives to cases involving Taiwan for the time being.
“To address the courts’ lack of jurisdiction in future cases such as the Taiwan homicide case, amendments might be made to the Offences Against the Person Ordinance and the Criminal Jurisdiction Ordinance to extend Hong Kong criminal courts’ jurisdiction over situations where permanent residents committing homicide outside Hong Kong and where the victim of such homicide is a Hong Kong permanent resident,” the association wrote.
“Tabling a limited amendment to include Taiwan for ad hoc arrangement for surrender and putting in place a one-off regulation for the case in question will dispense with the controversy surrounding the current proposals.”