By Jerome A. Cohen
Here is an SCMP report on this morning’s bail hearing before the Hong Kong High Court. Several items are worth noting.
In rejecting the request of one defense lawyer to grant interim bail to his client pending conclusion of the Court’s week-long review of the Chief Magistrate’s decision to grant bail to a minority of the 47 detained democratic figures, Judge Toh is quoted as saying: “This has to be done properly. Things done in haste are sometimes when mistakes are made.” Was this not a so subtle criticism of the lower court’s handling of the original applications of the entire 47 suspects? Or simply the statement of a truism that should obviously have been recognized by the lower court before deciding to inflict a black eye on Hong Kong justice?
Did the prosecution offer any clues about why it decided, sua sponte, not to pursue its appeal of the granting of bail to four of the fifteen suspects by the lower court? This is an essential point if the public is to glean any guidance from these events about the government’s interpretation of how the National Security Law is to be applied. Why were these four suspects belatedly favored by the prosecution? If defendants and their lawyers can know this, then they will be better able to argue for bail in other cases.
And what about the appeals from denial of bail by the twenty-five suspects whose cases the media seems to ignore?
I hope that, after taking a week to consider the arguments on both sides and conducting further hearings, Judge Toh will not only issue written decisions but also detail her reasoning and how it applies to her decision in each case. This would improve upon the performance of Judge Pang in denying Jimmy Lai’s most recent request for bail review.