'Court Rulings Made Public To Enhance Transparency'

The judiciary said on Thursday that it will be publishing summaries of selected decisions by the District Court and Magistrates' Courts which may attract great public attention as it moves to enhance transparency.

Hong Kong courts have been caught in a row of controversies in the past few months, linked to issues ranging from independence to separation of powers, and have been targeted by some high profile pro-Beijing figures who claimed that some judgments were biased.

In a statement, the judiciary said the decision to upload the summaries to its website from this month is to enhance public understanding about the reasoning of court decisions as well as complaints against judicial conduct.

In the past, only judgements by the District Court and above were normally available online.

On Wednesday, RTHK had reported that the judiciary has published a number of judgements by former magistrate Stanley Ho, who had in recent months been accused of bias by some pro-establishment figures.

Meanwhile, the judiciary said investigation into six complaints against the former Eastern Court magistrate had been completed.

In a report released online, the Chief Magistrate concluded that complaints against Ho in adjudicating the six cases were not substantiated.

He also noted that the Department of Justice had not appealed against the relevant decisions by Ho on grounds like bias or wrong interpretation of law and so it would not be appropriate for him to interfere on these rulings.

"The decisions and sentences ... were judicial decisions made independently by the Magistrate. In accordance with the principle of judicial independence, the Chief Magistrate in his administrative capacity would not, and it would be inappropriate, to interfere with any judicial decisions," it said.

The Chief Justice has agreed with the Chief Magistrate’s conclusion, the report said.

Ho was particularly targeted by some pro-Beijing publications after he acquitted some anti-government protesters and made some scathing remarks about evidence given by some police officers.

Ho was appointed a temporary Deputy Registrar of the High Court on July 31 and took over that job in September. His current duties will include assisting the Criminal Listing Judge in the listing and procedural matters of criminal cases in High Court.