Beverley McLachlin resigns from Hong Kong’s highest court

Former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada Beverley McLachlin is stepping down from Hong Kong’s highest court, city authorities announced Monday. She thus becomes the most recent foreign judge to resign from the court amid concerns about judicial independence.

Hong Kong judicial authorities have confirmed that Beverley McLachlin will complete her term as a non-permanent foreign judge at the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal, without providing further details.

According to Canadian media, McLachlin said in her statement that she had reached the age of 80 and would retire at the end of her term in July. She said she plans to spend more time with her family and continues to trust the members of the Court and their independence.

Also on Monday, a British judge who resigned from the same court last week said he was stepping down because the rule of law in the city was failing. serious danger and that the judges worked in a impossible political environment created by China.

In an article published Monday by the Financial TimesJonathan Sumption, who served as a non-permanent foreign judge at the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal, describes a paranoia of the authorities growing and judges intimidated by a increasingly dark political climate in the Asian financial center.

Hong Kong, once a vibrant and politically diverse community, is becoming a totalitarian state. The rule of law is deeply compromised in every area the government cares about, he writes. The slightest sign of dissent is treated as a call for revolution.

He wrote that he remained at the Court in the hope that the presence of foreign judges would help maintain the rule of law, but that he [craint] that this is no longer realistic.

Ms McLachlin and Mr Sumption are the latest of many foreign judges to leave Hong Kong’s highest court in recent years.

Hong Kong, a former British colony, is a common law jurisdiction, unlike mainland China. After the City’s return to Chinese authority in 1997, non-permanent foreign judges regularly sat on its highest court. Fifteen of those judges served in 2019. About seven will remain after Beverley McLachlin steps down next month.

At variance

The city government expressed its strong disagreement with Mr. Sumption’s comments in a lengthy statement Tuesday. He insisted that the city’s courts do not face any political pressure from Chinese authorities or the local government when handling cases, and said the rule of law in the financial hub has not been compromised. not diminished.

Andrew Cheung, president of the City Supreme Court, said in a statement that any suggestion that judicial decisions have been or could be compromised is a serious allegation and should not be taken lightly.

He added that there was a tension between the protection of fundamental rights and the safeguarding of national security, but that the City’s judiciary was committed to defending both causes.

It’s one thing to disagree with a court decision, but it’s another to suggest that fundamental rights have been compromised because of political concerns.

Hong Kong leader John Lee returned to the comments at his weekly press briefing, saying the professional duty of judges is to interpret and apply the law in accordance with legal principles and evidence, regardless of their political opinions on a given law.

Mr Lee said that in 2021, Mr Sumption had written about the confusion between democracy and the rule of law and that his latest statement appeared to be at odds with his previous position.

Mr Lee also said that some British officials and politicians had tried to militarize the judicial influence of the United Kingdom to attack China and Hong Kong, which the city should not allow.

It is sad and disappointing that our judges have been abandoned by a few foreign counterparts and have been treated so unfairly.

In 2022, another British judge, Robert Reed, resigned.

The national security law

Rights groups and critics say Chinese authorities’ passage of a national security law in 2020 has eroded Hong Kong’s judicial independence and virtually eliminated public dissent. Many pro-democracy activists have been arrested under this law.

In May, a Hong Kong court found 14 pro-democracy activists guilty of conspiring to commit an act of subversion in the City’s largest national security case to date.

They were among 47 activists accused of trying to paralyze Hong Kong’s government and overthrow the city’s leader by securing the legislative majority needed to blindly veto budgets.

The governments in Beijing and Hong Kong have insisted the law helped restore stability after large anti-government protests in 2019.