Legal storm erupts after top UK QC quits Lai case

Queen's counsel David Perry's shock withdrawal from prosecuting pro-democracy figures Jimmy Lai Chee-ying and Martin Lee Chu-ming and others following pressure from the United Kingdom - he was branded "mercenary" - continues to reverberate in Hong Kong.

Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah said a local counsel has been found as Perry's replacement while insisting the Department of Justice must withstand foreign pressure.

Former director of public prosecutions and British QC Grenville Cross called it "a setback for criminal justice and a sad day for the rule of law," while the legal sector also raised concerns about the role of foreign judges amid current political tension.

The DoJ had hired top prosecutor Perry to handle an unauthorized assembly case involving pro-democracy figures. His appointment was approved by the High Court earlier this month.

But it has since attracted scrutiny in the UK, including from Foreign Minister Dominic Raab who said people would regard Perry's move as being "pretty mercenary."

Raab, a former lawyer, also said that getting Perry to take the case was a "serious PR coup" for Beijing.

The DoJ said in a statement yesterday that Perry opted for an exit.

"Mr Perry, QC, expressed concerns about such pressures [from the UK] and the exemption of quarantine and indicated that the trial should proceed without him," it read.

It has instructed another counsel to prosecute the case as scheduled "in light of the public interest involved and the imminent trial date."

Raab had on Sunday termed as "mercenary'' Perry acting in this case in an interview with British media.

"I don't understand how anyone of good conscience, from the world-leading legal profession that we have, would take a case where they will have to apply the national security legislation at the behest of the authorities in Beijing, which is directly violating, undermining the freedom of the people of Hong Kong," Raab said.

But Hong Kong's former top prosecutor, Cross said Raab owed Perry an apology as the case does not involve the national security law as the minister claimed.

"This is clearly a setback for criminal justice and a sad day for the rule of law," Cross said. "An eminent [QC] has been subjected to irrational political pressure, based on a misconception as to what the case he was to prosecute is about.

"The great pity, of course, is that Perry would have conducted the prosecution with impeccable fairness and great professionalism in the best traditions of the English Bar, and this would have greatly benefited the defendants as well as the court."

In a briefing yesterday, Cheng labeled as "unfair" foreign attacks on Perry.

"We are shocked that the arrival of such a famous barrister to Hong Kong would cause so many unfair and biased attacks," Cheng said.

She added that Raab's criticism of Perry was "disgraceful" and that the DoJ would do its best to resist pressure from foreign politicians and defend independent prosecutions in Hong Kong.

Cheng also said the department would give priority to local counsels when hiring prosecutors, but it would also consider applying for hiring foreign counsel if the case is complicated and would have an impact on Hong Kong's rule of law.

"We have very good lawyers in Hong Kong who usually can handle a lot of very difficult cases, but this particular one ... is a very complicated and difficult case," she said.

But Lee Cheuk-yan, a former legislators and chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, who is a defendant in the same case, asked: "Is it true that there is no one in Hong Kong who can handle this case?"

He also criticized the choice of Perry as a waste of taxpayers' money as Perry would have had to be quarantined for 21 days when he arrived.

Perry represented the Hong Kong administration in several high profile cases previously, including that of former chief executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen's on a misconduct charge in 2017.

But Tsang's misconduct conviction was overturned in the Court of Final Appeal in 2019.

He also prosecuted former chief secretary Rafael Hui Si-yan in a bribery case in 2014. That ended with Hui being imprisoned for seven years for accepting HK$19.6 million from Sun Hung Kai Properties.

Jimmy Lai, Martin Lee, Lee Cheuk-yan and five others - former lawmakers Albert Ho Chun-yan, Margaret Ng Ngoi-yee, Cyd Ho Sau-lan, Leung Kwok-hung and Leung Yiu-chung - are to go on trial at the District Court on February 16 for organizing and knowingly taking part in an unauthorized assembly on August 18, 2019.

Another defendant, former legislator Au Nok-hin, has indicated he will plead guilty to both charges.