HK Secretary for Justice worries about attacks against courts

Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung said an increase in abuse directed at courts and judges because of decisions is a worrying sign.

Speaking at the opening of the legal year yesterday, Yuen said that amid "the usually healthy discussion of judicial decisions and judges during the past year, one sign of concern is the emergence of abusive attacks."

Some people even indicated they would compile a list of judges they considered politically biased and request their removal, Yuen said, adding: "However well-intended their subjective motives might be, such conduct should not be

Meanwhile, the city's Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma was tight-lipped on political topics including public nominations for the chief executive and the Occupy Central civil disobedience plan. He said they were "hypothetical" and it was beyond his constitutional role to comment.

On the other hand, the Hong Kong Bar Association chairman Paul Shieh Wing-tai said if the government wanted to reject a Basic Law-compliant reform proposal on political grounds, it should "call a spade a spade".

He added: "What we do not want to see is for political objections to be presented as legal objections."