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Hong Kong government should release official English version of national security law to avoid confusion in court, legal experts say
- Judges who do not understand Chinese could be forced to rely on an expert when trying cases, they say
- Residents who only speak English cannot be deemed to know a law that has not been gazetted in their language, veteran lawyer argues
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The Hong Kong government should release an official English version of the sweeping national security law imposed by Beijing as soon as possible to ensure judges handling cases have a comprehensive understanding of it, lawyers and legal scholars say.
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But three days after the law came into effect in the city, a government spokesman said on Saturday that the English translation of the legislation had been published on its website on Friday.
The government gazetted the Chinese version of the law at 11pm on Tuesday, hours after it was passed by China’s top legislative body, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee.
Hours after the law was gazetted, Xinhua state news agency did release a translation, but one it described only as “a reference” and it does not have official status in the city.
That could pose practical problems for judges tasked with trying cases, particularly those who did not understand Chinese, lawyers said.
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