Designating judges for national security cases no threat to judicial independence

The chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region designating judges to handle cases dealing with the offense of endangering national security has no effect on the independent exercise of judicial power by courts and judges, a senior lawmaker said on Wednesday.

Shen Chunyao, director of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, told a news conference in Beijing that Article 44 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, which took effect on Tuesday night, clearly stipulates that the chief executive may consult the Committee for Safeguarding National Security of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the chief justice of the Court of Final Appeal before making such a designation.

The judges would be drawn from the magistracy, the District Court, the Court of First Instance and the Court of Appeal of the High Court, and the Court of Final Appeal to handle national security cases, with a term of office of one year, Article 44 said.

China's Constitution clearly stipulates that the people's courts and procuratorial organs exercise their functions and powers independently, free from interference by any administrative organ, public organization or individual. The Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region also has clear stipulations on judicial independence. Therefore, judicial independence is carried out in accordance with relevant laws and regulations, Shen said.

He said the judges to be designated will be existing judges and they will be responsible for cases that endanger national security. Other judges, not so designated, will still be able to handle other cases.

The designated judges will still try cases independently and be free from any interference. The arrangement of designating judges reflects the constitutional responsibility of Hong Kong and also takes the actual situation of Hong Kong's judicial system into consideration, Shen said.

Designating judges would also be conducive to improving the efficiency of trials, as they may have rich experience and be good at handling such cases, which could be helpful in unifying judgment standards, he said.