Macau move to curtail foreign judges sparks concerns over China's growing control

3DG Holdings International

08/03/2018 02:24

* Draft legal proposal already completed - Macau legal
authority
    * New mandate could take effect this year - lawyers
    * China seen tightening grip on Macau judiciary

    By Farah Master
    MACAU, March 8 (Reuters) - Macau has finished drafting a
proposed new law barring foreign judges from hearing national
security and defense cases, an unprecedented move that has
heightened concerns over Beijing's grip over the gambling hub.
    The proposed draft law, announced in February by Sonia Chan,
the enclave's mainland-China born justice secretary, has been
completed, Macau's Legal Affairs Bureau said in an email to
Reuters.
    A spokesman said the amendments were needed out of
"consideration of major interests such as safeguarding the
sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of the country".
    Chan said in February that the amendments would help speed
up trial proceedings.
    She added that such cases should be exclusive to local
judges, as they might involve confidential information about the
nation and national defence. 
    The draft law is part of suggested amendments to Macau's
Judicial Framework Law that was implemented in 1999 when the
former Portuguese colony reverted to Chinese rule.
    The government will submit the relevant legal proposals to
the Legislative Council after internal procedures are completed,
the spokesman added, without giving a timeframe.
    Some Portuguese lawyers in Macau expressed alarm that the
proposal violates Macau's mini-constitution, the Basic Law, and
weakens judicial independence in the city, which is home to
international gambling companies including Sands China  1928.HK 
and MGM China  2882.HK .
    "This is totally ridiculous and a very dangerous step," said
a legal source who declined to be identified given the
sensitivity of the matter. "It is a real attempt on the autonomy
of the judicial system."
    While there haven't been many cases in Macau in recent years
involving national defence or security, some said the proposal
could be part of a broader move to phase out Portuguese-speaking
legal practitioners from Macau.
    10 of the territory's 49 magistrates now hold foreign
citizenship, mostly from Portugal.
    The head of Macau's Lawyers Association, Jorge Neto Valente,
called it "a bad solution to create a special body of judges for
the trial of a specific type of crime," according to TDM,
Macau's public broadcaster.  
    Macau, like the neighbouring financial hub of Hong Kong, is
governed under a "one country, two systems" framework which
allows for certain liberties not permitted on the mainland, such
as a free press and an independent judiciary.
    Both places allow foreign judges to rule in their judicial
systems as part of the Basic Law.
    There have been growing fears, however, that autonomy in
Macau is being corroded at a faster pace than in the former
British colony, where there is deeper opposition to Beijing's
rule.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1K93B1
    More than half of Macau's population of 650,000 immigrated
from China in recent decades, which has helped foster a stronger
affinity for the mainland than in Hong Kong, where most of the
population was born locally.
    A liberal lawmaker and government critic, Sulu Sou, is now
facing charges of aggravated disobedience during a protest
against Macau's leader, Fernando Chui.
    Pedro Cortes, a senior partner with the law firm Rato, Ling,
Lei & Cortes in Macau, said the proposal could get passed this
year in the predominantly pro-establishment Legislative
Assembly. 
    "It is going to be easy to pass this type of legislation, 
whatever is the final version proposed," he said. 

 (Reporting by Farah Master; Editing by James Pomfret and Philip
McClellan)
 ((farah.master@thomsonreuters.com; +852 28431631 , +852 9631
8262; Reuters Messaging:
farah.master.thomsonreuters@thomsonreuters.net))