Angry Prosecutors United Over Possible Sanctions: SJ

Justice minister Paul Lam on Sunday said frontline prosecutors are up in arms after the United States said they could sanction them in a report which the Hong Kong government has condemned as an attempt to intimidate its lawyers.

Last week, the American Congressional-Executive Commission on China in a report named 15 Hong Kong prosecutors, accusing them of infringing on the universal human rights of a wide range of Hong Kong people.

The report said the international community should take action, including sanctions, to address what it called "the erosion of the rule of law and human rights", allegations denied by the government.

Lam said in a TVB programme broadcast on Sunday that he and prosecutors are all angry about the possible sanctions, and he described the report as "despicable and shameless".

"I had expected that they'll come after me, it's all part of the job. But I'm really angry, why do they target our frontline colleagues? They're only doing their job," he said.

"What you're doing is you put pressure on this group of people, you want to make people afraid to join our team. But what I can say is, our colleagues have immediately become more united, because they're so angry. Why bully us?"

Lam added the government has ways to protect officials so that they will not be affected by possible sanctions.

The government had on Wednesday condemned the US report, saying it is spreading misinformation and attempting to intimidate prosecutors in Hong Kong.