TNAG-0258-FCO40-294-Legislation-relating-to-criminal-procedure-in-Hong-Kong-1971 — Page 106

NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN

W(B)L 51-7406

CONFIDENTIAL

anxious to refrain from taking the latter step

nevertheless

unless this is absolutely unavoidable; but 5 feel unable

it te very difficult to accept as part of the

permanent law of the Colony a provision

which gives a judge or magistrate the very

wide power of directing "in the interests of

justice or public order or security" that

any criminal case should be heard in a court

from which the public are excluded to an

extent which would include the delivery of

judgment and verdict.

3. It is true that under Section 122 the

representatives of the press cannot be

5 am required to leave the court, but we are

advised that this fact is not, of itself,

sufficient to justify leaving the Section as

it stands. One reason why it is required that

verdict and sentence in a criminal case

should be announced in open court is in order

that not only the public but in particular

the relatives and friends of the accused may

know and actually see what has happened to

the latter. It would not be satisfactory to

rely on such persons obtaining information

from newspapers regarding the court's

decision since:

(a) the press might not report the

result of the case,

(b) the case might be reported only in a

newspaper which the relatives and

friends did not see,

(c) the case might be reported in a

newspaper printed in a language not

known to the relatives and friends,

2

CONFIDENTIAL