HONG KONG: Hong Kong’s prime court docket on Monday (Aug 12) unanimously dismissed the bid to overturn the convictions of media tycoon Jimmy Lai and 6 different campaigners for an unauthorised meeting in 2019.
Lai, 76, the founding father of the newspaper Apple Every day, and 6 others together with veteran democrat Martin Lee had been discovered responsible of organising and taking part in an unauthorised meeting in August 2019 throughout months-long protests within the China-ruled metropolis.
Whereas a decrease court docket had overturned their conviction for organising the unauthorised meeting, however their conviction for participating in an unauthorised procession was upheld.
Their enchantment centred on whether or not the conviction was proportionate to elementary human rights protections, a precept set down in two non-binding choices of Britain’s Supreme Court docket generally known as “operational proportionality”.
David Neuberger, a former head of Britain’s Supreme Court docket, was one of many 5 judges on the Court docket of Ultimate Enchantment (CFA) who heard this case, including to the controversy over whether or not international judges ought to proceed to sit down on town’s highest court docket amid a nationwide safety crackdown.
The judgment got here two months after the resignations of two British judges from Hong Kong’s Court docket of Ultimate Enchantment (CFA), Lawrence Collins and Jonathan Sumption. Sumption stated Hong Kong was changing into a totalitarian state and town’s rule of legislation had been “profoundly compromised”.
