The Court of Final Appeal
Law enforcement agencies in Macau have reportedly used extrajudicial means to extradite at least three people to mainland authorities since 2007. The South China Morning Post reported yesterday that two of them are permanent residents of Hong Kong, citing court documents and sources.
The newspaper describes how on March 18, 2007, a woman took a ferry from Hong Kong to Macau and was intercepted by immigration officials “to collaborate in an investigation,” according to a court document. The following day, Macau’s Prosecution Office agreed to turn over the woman (red-flagged by Interpol for tax evasion) to mainland authorities.
The Court of Final Appeal (TUI) ruled in 2007 that it was illegal to return fugitives to mainland Chinese authorities.
Another case unfolded on February 6, 2008, when a woman, also a permanent resident of Hong Kong, who allegedly committed a burglary on the mainland, was arrested while entering Macau.
TUI issued another similar ruling: “This court having already decided […] in 2007 that it was illegal to return fugitives to mainland China
authorities […] it was insisted that the return would proceed, without a law or agreement, without an organized process, without allowing the defendant’s defense and without an order from a judge. These acts discredit the justice system, undermine the rule of law and do not confer prestige to the Macau SAR.”
Yet another case caused controversy in Macau when a Chinese fugitive, Wu Quansheng, had his residency status in Macau revoked by the Secretary for Economy and Finance’s Office. Wu Quansheng was eventually expelled from Macau, although the SAR and mainland China are yet to sign an extradition treaty, as the Times reported.
Discussions to produce such a treaty have been in the works for around two-and-a-
half years and are expected to conclude this year.
A Macau-based lawyer, who wishes to remain anonymous, told the SCMP, “The agreement is to legitimize what they [the agencies] have already been doing, because they know it’s illegal.”
Benny Tai, an associate professor of law at the University of Hong Kong who initiated the “Occupy Central with Love and Peace” campaign in January 2013, said that there were reasons for “grave concern.” He added that the Hong Kong government could not guarantee that HKSAR residents handed over to Macau as part of an inter-SAR extradition agreement would not be illegally relocated to the mainland.
“The jurisdictional integrity of Hong Kong and Macau as well as the rule of law in both jurisdictions are both seriously degraded by these extrajudicial kidnappings,” Hong Kong lawyer Michael Vidler told the SCMP. Staff reporter
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