The Legislative Assembly (AL) yesterday passed the outline of a government-initiated amendment bill on the Judicial Organisation Framework Law, proposing, among other things, that all cases involving national security would only be tried by local judges holding Chinese nationality.
The bill also proposes that the government’s policy secretaries, the legislature’s president and the chief prosecutor charged with a criminal offence would be tried by the Court of Second Instance (TSI) in the first instance, a change from the current situation in which they – if accused of a criminal offence – are tried by the Court of Final Appeal (TUI) in the first instance.
Secretary for Administration and Justice Sonia Chan Hoi Fan introduced the outline of the bill, which also aims to improve the judiciary’s operations and speed up trial proceedings, during a plenary session in the legislature’s hemicycle yesterday.
Flanked by senior officials under her portfolio, Secretary for Administration and Justice Sonia Chan Hoi Fan (centre) attends yesterday’s plenary session in the legislature’s hemicycle. Photo: GCS
