'Name and shame' call over 'lenient' judges in street protest cases slammed by Hong Kong Bar Association

A campaign to name and shame “political” judges who pass “lenient” sentences on street protesters ­– the public backing of which has forced a former high-ranking anti-graft official to apologise ­­– was slammed on Thursday by the Hong Kong Bar Association.

The barristers’ body  hit back at a Beijing-backed think tank for suggesting  that  personal details of judges dealing with some cases related to Occupy Central and the recent Mong Kok riot should be exposed.

Its strongly worded statement came a day after former ICAC deputy commissioner Tony Kwok Man-wai apologised for calling on internet users to help uncover details of a judge who granted bail to an activist accused of involvement in the riot.

The Bar Association said comments by the Chinese Association of Hong Kong & Macau Studies following a conference on Sunday to discuss the riot were “highly inappropriate” and “any inappropriate comment could fuel baseless and unnecessary suspicion on judicial independence”.

The  think tank, comprising a range of experts and academics, argued the violence in Mong Kok was “the after-effect of the [Hong Kong] Judiciary conniving [at] violence”,  given most who took part in the Occupy  protests in 2014 only received light sentences.

 It later released a statement, suggesting civic organisations in the city should “set up a court watch” to make public “[the names of] judges who have a clear political inclination or readily pass lenient sentences in cases which jeopardise national security and public order”.