Hollywood movie The Departed in real-life: youth nurtured into "gangster judges" serving as executioners in Hong Kong Judiciary

(13 Jun)As we all know, Hong Kong court magistrates have recently been making controversy decisions on cases arising from last year's Anti-ELAB (Extradition law amendment bill) movement. Examples include Judge Kwok Wai-kin praising the "noble qualities" of a stabbing case convict, Judge Heung [Lau] suk-han joining the interrogation of witnesses and Judge Chan wai-mun, who determined that a middle-aged man's "action may have led to the destruction of social order" when the police fired a teargas canister directly at him as he was getting off a minibus. He was sentenced to 200 hours of community service. Yesterday sparked even more outrage when Judge Debbie Ng Chung-yee not only ignored the inconsistencies in a police officer's testimonies but made unfounded claims that the defendant, despite being injured during the arrested, is not well-suited to be a teacher because the judge claimed he had a personality disorder [without doctor diagnosed]. He is remanded to Siu Lam Psychiatric Centre to await his sentence...

This series of infuriating violations of common legal principles fully imbue one with the sense that district court magistrates and the police are buddies: no matter how ridiculous the charge, even with confessions extracted through torture, the judges will complement the police without any reservation. The conviction will stand and the sentence will be harsh.

Many years ago, when the typical citizen's impression of the court was based on a Hong Kong's film, The Unwritten Law, the older generation would tell the young people, "Don't become a lawyer, bend the truth and send innocent people to jail. It has no merit." Looking back at the movie now, the many plot holes are obvious but people have always believed that sending someone [innocent] to jail is an extremely immoral act. People with morals have self-limitations that maintain their integrity and increase their merit. A tyrannical autocracy holds a different mentality when it comes to recruiting thugs to become their lackeys: a big fat government paycheck can hire a bunch of underqualified people to handle things. Precisely because they lack competitiveness and skill, such people cannot survive without depending on [political] power. They don't need any special orders to wantonly commit any morally atrocious act as a demonstration of their loyalty.

Yijin-ers* become cops in such system. As it turns out, it's the same with judges. The populace likely paid little attention to who the judges were before but these recent cases are so outrageous that it piqued enough curiosity in the LIHKG (popular forum in Hong Kong) brethren to pore over the backgrounds of these judges. Ignorance is bliss; finding their information is frightful. Chan wai-mun, Debbie Ng and Heung suk-han all worked as court prosecutors for the Department of Justice in Hong Kong between 1992 and 1995. From 1996 to 1997, Chan and Ng both pursued their bachelor's degrees in law at the University of Wolverhampton, a British diploma mill with low ranked (below 800) and creditability in the world (in contrast to the University of Hong Kong, which is ranked 40th). Then, in July 2007, all three of them were appointed to serve as special magistrates at the same time... (Many thanks to the LIHKG users who unearthed this information.)

At this point, movie The Departed comes to mind. In the movie, the crime lord who played by Jack Nicholson implanted a mole (played by Leonard DiCaprio) in police school in the hopes that he would climb the ranks of the police force and eventually infiltrate the upper echelons of power.

In Hong Kong, few would study until they are neared their thirties to obtain a bachelor's degree from a diploma mill, become judges together in their forties and then, in their fifties, endorse chaotic political authority in their sentencing. On the surface, it looks like a bunch of people who couldn't finish school, riding on the coattails of their boss. In actuality, they don't even care that their bad deeds harm others. But is it possible that all the arrangements necessary for the transition were made three decades ago? (Spoiler alert) In The Departed, the truth didn't come out until the very end: an investigator from Special investigation is also a double agent. And now this kind of coincidence appears in the curricula vitarum of our special magistrates. For how long has the field of law actually been infiltrated and how deeply? Outside of the courts, how many government departments have had similar occurrences of people creeping in early on? Or has there been a shadow government operating at every level this entire time?

Confronting this state of affairs, it is time for old-timers like Martin Lee [Hong Kong politician] to act. Because practising law professionals cannot publicly criticise the court, a strong and compelling counterargument will need to be made by those retiring soon or have already retired. Hopefully, there are still veterans in the legal world with the mental energy to help out. Only then we can make an impact on these questionable case decisions.

Magistrates working together with the police to ruin protesters has become the truth. We must take good care of ourselves.

May the heavens severely punish those who wrongfully accuse others. May God bless Hong Kong.

P.S. Only five years of experience working in law is needed to become a special magistrate; the low expectations and work only on small cases like those concerning unlicensed hawkers or illegal assemblies of low-level gangsters. Now, the Department of Justice and the court of law have joined forces to break the rules and deliberately appoint their own people to serve in district courts. So, no matter how much money the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund [legal services for protesters] can provide, it is still not enough to handle everything. We must do what we can to spread this information to international frontlines via Twitter. If this ruthless regime in Hong Kong isn't overthrown, the contents of these legal cases will only become more ridiculous. Additionally, a friend wrote a complaint letter to report the misconduct of a magistrate. It may not be useful but it's worth a try. Its full content is enclosed here.

Correction: These women have already been promoted from special magistrates to magistrates.

Although this piece is a rather detailed article analysing the court's framework. Feel free to take a look if you're interested.

https://theinitium.com/article/20170828-hongkong-controversial-court-cases/

Original LIHKG post:

https://lihkg.com/thread/2060970/page/1

2007 press release of judicial appointments:

https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/200707/13/P200707130113.htm

Editor's Note:

* Yijin-er is a pejorative used to mock the intelligence of police officers. The Diploma Yi Jin is an equivalency programme for those who cannot complete secondary school. It focuses more on generic practical skills than academic rigour.

Source: Edkin

https://bit.ly/2BAehQE