Prosecution criteria clarified

July 1, 2020

(To watch the full press conference with sign language interpretation, click here.)

 

Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng today emphasised that when handling national security law cases, all prosecutorial decisions will be based on facts and evidence.

 

Ms Cheng made the remarks at a press conference to discuss the Law of the People's Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

 

“What is important when one is to understand the independence of prosecutorial decisions is that Article 63 explicitly says that the Department of Justice is to control the prosecutorial decisions, conduct of the matters, etc, free from any interference.

 

“Any decisions that the Department of Justice is going to make, in relation to prosecutorial decisions, will as always be based on fact and evidence. The fact and evidence are some things that will be provided to us through the law enforcement agencies - particularly here is the special branch set up under the Police Force - and that will allow us to make decisions independently, free from any interference.”

 

Ms Cheng also sought to clarify that her participation on the Committee for Safeguarding National Security of the Hong Kong SAR will not hinder her role as head of the Department of Justice.

 

She said: "It would not in any way interfere with my discharge of the role as the head of the Department of Justice under Basic Law Article 63.” 

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