No time limit for prosecuting remaining 7,000 arrested over 2019 protests, Hong Kong officials say
Hong Kong Free Press
There is no time limit for prosecuting the more than 7,000 individuals arrested in connection with the 2019 protests who still have not been charged, two Hong Kong officials have said.
It was not unfair for the arrestees to wait for prosecution for more than five years because the authorities needed time to gather evidence, Secretary for Security Chris Tang said in a media briefing on Monday, which HKFP was not invited to attend.
Less than 30 per cent of those arrested during the 2019 protests have been charged, according to figures as of the end of March.
The minister’s remarks came after Secretary for Justice Paul Lam told newspaper Sing Tao that there was no statute of limitations on criminal cases in Hong Kong. Before prosecutors laid a formal charge, they would review whether there was sufficient evidence and whether the prosecution fulfilled public interests, the official said in an interview published on Monday.
Lam also said that he did not understand why some arrestees said they were “restricted.” The justice chief said they could still exercise the freedom enjoyed by other people, such as going abroad to travel and study.
From June 9, 2019 – when Hongkongers took to the streets to oppose a proposed amendment to an extradition bill that would have allowed criminal suspects to be sent to China – until March this year, 10,279 people had been arrested in connection with the protests.
Of those arrested, police told HKFP in June that 7,537 were male, and 2,742 were female. They ranged in age from 11 to 87, with 1,754 under the age of 18.
As of March 31, a total of 2,961 people – or 28.8 per cent of those arrested – had “undergone or [were] undergoing judicial proceedings,” according to police. That is to say, their cases had been through the courts, or were in the process of being handled by the courts.
Tang sided with Lam on Monday, saying that there was no prosecution time limit unless it was specified in the legislation. He also rejected the suggestion of setting a deadline for charging those arrested in relation to the 2019 protests, saying that such a measure was “against the rule of law principle.”
For example, there have been cases of offenders who had left the city for 20 years, and who were arrested when they returned. That was the spirit of the rule of law, he said.
“We cannot legalise something illegal, and think that this is handing freedom back to [to the arrested individuals], I think this contradicts the rule of law and it is wrong,” Tang said in Cantonese.
Protests erupted in June 2019 over a since-axed extradition bill. They escalated into sometimes violent displays of dissent against police behaviour, amid calls for democracy and anger over Beijing’s encroachment. Demonstrators demanded an independent probe into police conduct, amnesty for those arrested and a halt to the characterisation of protests as “riots.”
In Hong Kong, the time limit for prosecuting a summary offences, which are less serious in nature and involves cases like littering and careless driving, are generally within six months of the date of the offence. For more serious offences, or indictable offences, there is no official time limit on when prosecution should start.
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