CE appoints Portuguese judges to lower courts

The Chief Executive has appointed two judges to the lower two courts; the Court of First Instance (TJB) and the Court of Second Instance (TSI). An inauguration ceremony was held at the Court of Final Appeal yesterday.
Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng attended yesterday’s ceremony, where the newly appointed judges, Rui Carlos dos Santos Pereira Ribeiro and Jerónimo Alberto Gonçalves Santos, took an oath in Portuguese.
On May 4, the SAR government published an executive order announcing their appointment. The decree explicitly addressed and defined the two judges as judges “of foreign ethnicity”.
In 2019, the Legislative Assembly (AL) approved the Basic Law of Judicial Organization, which excludes judges “of foreign ethnicity” from handling matters of national security.
The two judges were recommended for the position by the Independent Commission responsible for the recommendation of judges.
Rui Carlos dos Santos Pereira Ribeiro has been appointed as a judge of the TSI and Jerónimo Alberto Gonçalves Santos steps into the position of presiding judge at the TJB. Before the new appointment, the former was the presiding judge at the TJB and the latter was a panel judge of TJB.
Both newly appointed judges are under two-year employment contracts with their respective courts.
Together with Rui Carlos dos Santos Pereira Ribeiro, the TSI now has a total of nine judges including the presiding judge. Rui Carlos dos Santos Pereira Ribeiro is the only judge from a foreign background among the nine judges. The other eight judges are Lai Kin Hong (presiding judge), Choi Mou Pan, Chan Kuong Seng, Fong Man Chong, Tam Hio Wa, Ho Wai Neng, Tong Hio Fong, Chao Im Peng.
The TJB court has eight judges: Teresa Leong, Lam Peng Fai, Cheong Un Mei, Kan Cheng Ha, Lou Ieng Ha, Leong Fong Meng, Cheong Weng Tong and Jerónimo Alberto Gonçalves Santos. JZ