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Hong Kong protests: justice secretary hits out at ‘disgraceful’ British attacks that forced Queen’s Counsel to drop case against tycoon Jimmy Lai
- David Perry, who has handled numerous high-profile cases in the city over the past decade, had been labelled ‘mercenary’ by British foreign secretary
- Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng says she is shocked by the ‘unfair and biased’ attacks on Perry and could not have seen them coming
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A top barrister from London tasked with prosecuting high-profile opposition activists in Hong Kong has pulled out of the case, prompting the city’s justice minister to hit back at the British government for its “disgraceful” attacks and political pressure that led to the surprise move.
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Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah on Wednesday warned against a trend of wider interference in the independent functioning of the legal professions in both Hong Kong and Britain after David Perry QC decided not to lead the prosecution’s case against nine activists including media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying and veteran lawyer Martin Lee Chu-ming over an illegal protest.
Perry decided to withdraw from the case just days after British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab branded him a “mercenary” for accepting the job.
“For such a reputable British Queen’s Counsel to come to Hong Kong for a case which, in turn, surprisingly attracted so many unfair and biased attacks and views in Britain, it was not us underestimating [the backlash] at all,” Cheng said. “We are just shocked and could not have seen it coming.”
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The row over the British barrister taking up a prosecutorial role in a Hong Kong court has added to diplomatic tensions between Britain and its former colony, which have clashed over a series of political issues ranging from the enforcement of the national security law imposed by Beijing in Hong Kong to London’s offer of a pathway to citizenship for Hongkongers seeking to leave the city.
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