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In response to the sentences passed on Cheung Tze-keung and 17 other Hong Kong residents by the Guangzhou Municipal Intermediate People's Court today (Thursday), the Secretary for Security, Mrs Regina Ip, said that as these persons were tried in the Mainland for offences committed there under the Mainland laws, the Mainland's laws regarding criminal offences applied.
She noted that the persons convicted had the right to appeal against the conviction and the sentence and that they might lodge their appeal to the Guangdong Provincial Higher People's Court within 10 days.
"This is not the first time Hong Kong residents are convicted and sentenced outside Hong Kong.
"We respect the independence of the judicial systems of other jurisdictions. Likewise, we would not interfere with the judicial proceedings in the Mainland," she said.
She stressed that these Hong Kong people were tried in the Mainland under the Mainland's criminal law. "There is no question of the Mainland interfering with Hong Kong's jurisdiction. Hong Kong people's faith in the independence of our judicial system should not be eroded," she said.
Ends/Thursday, November 12, 1998
Issued at HKT 17:55
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