The High Court issued a verdict last week on the use of David Perry, the Queen’s Counsel of the United Kingdom, to approve the application of the Department of Justice in the case of the illegal assembly of Victoria Park on August 18 the year before the prosecution. British Foreign Minister Lan Taowen pointed out that Beijing will consider hiring British Queen’s Counsel to prosecute democrats as a breakthrough in public relations, and the barrister is not irresistible to these lawsuits. He bluntly said that David Perry took over the case, which made people feel mercenary.
Before Lan Taowen was elected as a member of the House of Commons, he worked as a human rights lawyer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He also assisted the International Court of Justice in the legal work of war criminals in The Hague. He stated that he did not understand how anyone handled this case “conscientiously”. He accepted a video interview with BBC political editor Andrew Marr in the morning local time in the UK today. He believed that barristers could resist the case with a “code of conduct”. He added: “From the perspective of Beijing, this will be a serious public relations raid. Frankly speaking, I think people will feel a bit mercenary when they see this situation, when you go to take such cases.”
He bluntly stated on the Sky News program, “I don’t understand how anyone has a conscience. We have accepted a case from the world’s leading legal profession, and the case will have to be applied in accordance with the national security law required by the Beijing authorities. This directly infringes and degrades the freedom of Hong Kong people; and I understand that this is the relationship between Mr. David Perry and the pan-democratic activists in this case.”
Former British Foreign Minister Malcolm Rifkind recently wrote an article in the British newspaper The Telegraph criticizing David Perry’s decision, arguing that he has the right to refuse employment due to his conscience. David Perry himself did not respond, but his allies stated that the case was accepted in accordance with the “Cab-Rank Rule”.
Eight people including Martin Lee, the founding chairman of the Democratic Party, Wu Aiyi, a former legislator of the Legislative Council, and Li Zhiying, the founder of Next Media, were suspected of organizing and participating in an unauthorized assembly on August 18 of the previous year. Eight people have previously denied the charges and are scheduled for trial on the 16th of next month. The trial period is expected to be 10 days. David Perry has represented the Department of Justice as prosecutors in high-profile cases in the past, including the former Chief Secretary for Administration Xu Shiren involved in corruption cases, and former Chief Executive Donald Tsang involved in corruption cases.
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