Mr Justice Kemal Bokhary warns against ‘excessive’ interpretation of Basic Law, making role of judges ‘hollow’
STUART.LAU@SCMP.COM
UPDATED : Monday, 18 April, 2016, 8:28pm
Mr Justice Kemal Bokhary delivers his speech at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Central. Photo: Sam Tsang
Hong Kong’s courts are facing grave challenges as fears about a “storm of unprecedented ferocity” over Hong Kong’s rule of law have already come true, according to the Court of Final Appeal judge who painted the gloomy picture four years ago.
“I think that my fears have been realised as much as I wish that they would not,” Mr Justice Kemal Bokhary said on Monday as he delivered a speech on challenges facing the courts.
“There are very serious problems now.”
He also warned against the National People’s Congress Standing Committee interpreting the Basic Law “excessively” as that risked making the judges’ role “hollow”.
If that practice became institutionalised, “there will be important cases where they are not allowed to decide”, the judge said.
The role of the Hong Kong judiciary, he said, was to ensure “one country, two systems” would be a principle that worked for the city, thereby making it last beyond 2047.
But that role was not without difficulty, the judge added. “In carrying out this special task, the Hong Kong courts have faced and are facing a number of grave challenges. We must be prepared for those challenges to increase.”
Beijing infuriated local legal circles when it overruled a Court of Final Appeal judgment on right of abode just two years after the 1997 handover. The five permanent judges at the time, including Bokhary, had mooted the idea of a joint resignation but decided against due to fears about its aftershock, according to diplomatic wires exposed by WikiLeaks.
In 2014, Beijing issued a white paper classifying judges as “administrators” with a “basic political requirement” to love the country, triggering a large-scale protest march organised by the legal sector.
Bokhary, who became a non-permanent judge in 2012, highlighted the importance of democracy in guaranteeing an effective judiciary.
Martin Lee Chu-ming, founding chairman of the Democratic Party, asked him if rule of law could sustain without democracy.
Bokhary conceded that if an undemocratic situation continued, “the things which were second nature to you and I may recede to the back row where judicial independence is eroded”.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1936964/gloomy-verdict-hong-kong-appeal-judge-says-courts-face-grave
