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Following is a written reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr Ambrose S K Lee, to a question by the Hon Audrey Eu on transfer of sentenced persons in the Legislative Council today (February 27):
Question:
Since the end of last year, I have received quite a number of requests for assistance from persons transferred from Thailand to serve their sentences in Hong Kong under the Transfer of Sentenced Persons Ordinance (Cap. 513). They said that as the Thai Government had announced the granting of pardons to prisoners in celebration of their King's 80th birthday last December, the remission of sentences for prisoners in Thailand should also apply to them. Some of them should even be immediately discharged under the pardons. Yet, some persons who have served their sentences when taking account of the remission had to stay in prison because of the delay of the relevant authorities in Hong Kong in obtaining the remission documents from the Thai Government, which is very unfair to them. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) in the past three years, of the number of persons transferred to Hong Kong to serve their sentences under the above Ordinance and the jurisdictions which imposed sentences on them, as well as the respective ages of the youngest and the oldest persons among them; of the number of persons who had served additional time in Hong Kong due to the failure to obtain remission documents from the jurisdictions concerned, and list the duration of the additional time served by, and the jurisdiction which imposed sentence on each of them;
(b) among the persons who are currently serving their sentences in Hong Kong under the above Ordinance, how many of them should have been discharged due to the remission of sentences but are still in prison due to the failure to obtain remission documents from the relevant jurisdictions; of the duration of the additional time they have hitherto served and the jurisdictions which imposed sentences on them; and whether the authorities have taken any follow-up action other than contacting the Governments concerned through their consuls in Hong Kong, so as to avoid those persons being kept in prison; if they have, of the details, including the number of persons involved and the jurisdictions which imposed sentences on them; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c) whether the relevant authorities will consider providing appropriate relief to the above persons who have served additional time; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) The Transfer of Sentenced Persons Ordinance (Cap 513) provides a legal framework for the transfer of sentenced persons (TSP) between Hong Kong and places outside the People's Republic of China and between Hong Kong and Macau. Since the commencement of the Ordinance in June 1997, the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) has reached agreement on TSP with 10 overseas jurisdictions and Macau.
Over the past three years (i.e. 2005 to 2007), a total of 44 sentenced persons have been transferred from overseas jurisdictions and Macau to Hong Kong to serve the remainder of their sentences. A breakdown of the figure by year and place of transfer is given in the table below:
United Thailand Macau
States
------ -------- -----
2005 0 0 0
2006 0 15 6
2007 1 9 13
Among the sentenced persons mentioned above, the respective ages of the oldest and the youngest are 75 and 23.
Over the past three years, Hong Kong has only received one notification of a decision to modify sentences from the jurisdiction of a Transferring Party. In August 2006, the Thai authorities announced the granting of a Royal Pardon to prisoners in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the King of Thailand's accession to the throne. Depending on their categories or the offences committed, sentenced persons who met the conditions for the pardon would have their sentences reduced. However, the exact amounts of remission of sentence for individual sentenced persons had to be given legal effect by warrants issued by the courts in Thailand. The HKSAR Government received the warrants issued by Thai courts in separate batches between November 2006 and January 2007. A total of 35 sentenced persons, who had been transferred from Thailand to serve the remainder of their sentences in Hong Kong, were granted a remission of sentence. With the remission granted in Hong Kong under the Prison Rules (Cap 234) taken into account, five of them were released immediately after the HKSAR Government received the warrants issued by Thai courts.
(b) The HKSAR Government is aware that the Thai authorities announced the granting of a Royal Pardon to prisoners in celebration of their King's 80th birthday last December. Depending on their categories or the offences committed, sentenced persons who meet the conditions for the pardon will have their sentences reduced. However, we have yet to receive the warrants issued by Thai courts in respect of individual sentenced persons who have been transferred from Thailand to Hong Kong to serve the remainder of their sentences. As such, we are not able to ascertain whether any of them would be granted a remission or the amount of remission to be granted. According to information provided by the Correctional Services Department, 35 sentenced persons who have been transferred from Thailand are still serving their sentences in Hong Kong.
The HKSAR Government has proactively requested the Chinese Ambassador to Thailand to follow up on the Royal Pardon announced in December 2007. We hope to be able to ascertain whether any of the sentenced persons transferred from Thailand to Hong Kong to serve the remainder of their sentences would be granted a remission and the amounts of remission to be granted as soon as possible. We have also sought assistance from the British Ambassador to Thailand in respect of the cases of sentenced persons holding British National (Overseas) Passports who have been transferred to Hong Kong to serve the remainder of their sentences.
According to the TSP Agreements signed by Hong Kong with overseas jurisdictions and Macau, if the Transferring Party decides to modify the sentence of a transferred sentenced person, the Receiving Party shall implement the decision in accordance with the Agreement upon receipt of formal notification of the decision by the Transferring Party. At present, there are no prisoners in Hong Kong whose release dates have been delayed due to the failure of the HKSAR Government in implementing a decision by a Transferring Party to modify the prisoners¡¦ sentences upon receipt of notification of such a decision.
(c) As stated in (b) above, we have yet to receive any warrants issued by Thai courts relating to the Royal Pardon announced by Thai authorities in celebration of their King¡¦s 80th birthday. Therefore, we are not able to ascertain whether any of the sentenced persons concerned would be granted a remission or the amount of remission to be granted. In fact, the HKSAR Government cannot unilaterally modify the sentences of sentenced persons transferred to Hong Kong to serve the remainder of their sentences under the TSP Agreements before receiving the notification of the Transferring Party of their decision to modify these sentences.
Ends/Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Issued at HKT 17:27
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