Courts | TUI rejects another Ho Chio Meng appeal

The Court of Final Appeal (TUI) has rejected an appeal by the former Public Prosecutor General, Ho Chio Meng, contesting the legality of the decision to put him under preventive custody.  In a decision signed by judge Viriato de Lima, TUI argued that under the current legal framework it is not possible to further appeal the decision. “Nothing prevents the law from being changed, with high officials and magistrates being judged by another court,” the judgment reads, adding that a similar solution is being implemented in Hong Kong and mainland China.
Ho Chio Meng claimed that according to the magistrates’ statute, magistrates cannot be arrested or subjected to preventive custody before being formally accused or having the date of their hearing set.
However, TUI maintains that Ho Chio Meng was not a magistrate at the time of his detention.
“There is no contradiction in accepting that TUI is the correct court to hear the former prosecutor’s case, considering that he is not a magistrate and thus can’t benefit from the provision that exempts [magistrates] from preventive custody, expect in special cases,” the dispatch reads.
TUI had previously rejected a habeas corpus claim (a request to determine if a person’s imprisonment or detention is lawful) presented by Ho Chio Meng, who is being charged with fraud, abuse of power and document forgery. PB