The Hong Kong government described concerns over the missing bookseller Lee Bo as “understandable” and promised a thorough investigation.
Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung weighed in on the mystery during a speech at City Hall before judges and lawyers that kicked off the new legal year.
Yuen said: “Except properly permitted under our laws, neither unauthorised criminal investigations nor unlawful arrests within the jurisdiction by anyone or any authority shall be tolerated.”
VIEW MORE: Thousands of Hong Kong protesters march to demand release of missing booksellers
“Any suspected case of infringement deserves full and thorough investigation, and this is what the government is seeking to achieve,” he added, saying the concerns expressed in the community were “understandable” and should be properly addressed.
Meanwhile, the city’s chief justice urged everyone including the government and others in power to conform to the Basic Law and respect basic human rights.
“The Basic Law sets out fundamental rights and liberties which are constitutionally protected,” said Geoffrey Ma Tao-li at the opening of the legal year on Monday.
He noted that basic rights such as equality before the law, freedom of publication and freedom from arbitrary arrest were enshrined in the Basic Law, the constitutional document for the special administrative region under Chinese rule.
READ MORE: ‘Simply irrelevant’ to inquire into motives, political or otherwise, of those before court, says Hong Kong chief justice
This was the first time the top judge made a statement relating to these freedoms since the disappearance of bookseller Lee Bo.
Without stating if there were serious human rights violations, Ma said the Basic Law stipulated that the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights applied in Hong Kong and that in examining the content and substance of the rights contained in the convention “one must have regard to recognised international jurisprudence”.
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1899970/hong-kong-justice-minister-pledges-full-and-thorough-probe
