(Washington)—The Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) today released a staff report detailing the role Hong Kong judges play in establishing a de facto parallel legal system where basic procedural rights such as trial by jury and presumption of innocence are routinely violated.
The report, entitled “One City, Two Legal Systems: Hong Kong Judges’ Role in Rights Violations under the National Security Law,” makes the case that the United States government should consider imposing sanctions on judges presiding over national security cases for their role in weakening Hong Kong’s once venerated rule of law and independent judiciary and arbitrarily jailing over a thousand political prisoners. Sanctions authorities are available to the Biden Administration through the Hong Kong Autonomy Act and the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act.
The report was issued in tandem with a hearing held by the CECC entitled “One City, Two Legal Systems: Political Prisoners and the Erosion of the Rule of Law in Hong Kong.”