New Chief Justice Rules Out Sentencing Review Panel

The new Chief Justice, Andrew Cheung, has rejected the idea of setting up a panel to review sentencing guidelines, saying this role is best served by the courts themselves.

The vice-chairman of the DAB, Holden Chow, had suggested such a panel was needed after saying sentences handed down to some anti-government protesters had been too lenient.

Speaking to the media in his new role for the first time on Monday, Cheung said the idea for a "review council" had stemmed from recent sentencing decisions in "social event cases" handed by lower courts.

"A much more effective and conventional way of obtaining authoritative and binding sentencing guidance, and ironing out discrepancies in sentences, is by means of appeal and sentence review," he said.

He said the Court of Appeal had dealt with eight sentence reviews from 'social event' cases, and given important sentencing guidance on these kinds of cases, which are binding on all lower courts.

He said no less than seven more cases would be heard in the coming few months, and similar appeals and reviews would be fast tracked.

"We consider this is the most effective and efficient means of addressing concerns over the need for timely sentencing guidance on the type of case in question," he said.

The chief justice was repeatedly asked about aspects of the National Security Law, but refused to comment on specific provisions of the law, saying he didn't want to pre-empt any decision in relation to the law.

"It is not for me, here in a press briefing to, as it were, to construe or to give an interpretation or to work out the meaning of a provision like that," he explained.

Asked how the judiciary would deal with political pressure under his watch, Cheung said that "political pressure is just one form of pressure that judges face and have to deal with, so we all do our best."

He said if a colleague came to him for advice, he would tell them: "Never mind the pressure, never mind the type of pressure, never mind the source of the pressure or the origin of the pressure, or where the pressure comes from. Focus on your own case, focus on the law, focus on the issues, focus on party's arguments, focus on the evidence, focus on the facts. "

"Never mind what people will say about your decision, you just decide the case regardless according to the law, facts, evidence, argument."