A pro-Beijing politician has challenged Hong Kong Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma’s defense of the judiciary, saying he needs to do more to allay public concerns about a perceived bias among judges in handling protest-related cases.

Legislator Holden Chow, who was also a lawyer, on Thursday launched a fresh broadside at the judiciary system following Ma’s long statement on Wednesday upholding judicial independence. Chow said certain recent rulings about defendants who protested last year against a now-shelved extradition bill were “problematic,” from the granting of bail to the verdict and sentencing.

Local courts have come under increasing pressure in a debate over whether the city still enjoys separation of powers, as Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam has said that the courts, the legislature and her executive arm have always been meant to co-operate with one another. Her stance is a surprise to many as Hong Kong has long been known to practice separation of powers.

Rebutting criticism of the judiciary, Ma the chief justice on Wednesday issued a rare statement defending the courts' independence, saying that judges were “strictly to apply the law and nothing else.”

A day later, the pro-Beijing camp renewed its attack on the judiciary. Chow, of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, said Ma had failed to ease concerns that some “biased judges” might have applied legal principles “unfairly and wrongly” in certain cases.

He called on the authorities to set up a committee to regulate sentencing as a means of improving the situation. “Is it true that there is this issue about quality across the board in our system and all our magistrates?” he asked on a radio programme on Thursday.

Executive Council member Ronny Tong also urged the Department of Justice to initiate appeals against the rulings in question.

The pro-Beijing camp has been vocal in blaming the courts for granting bail to certain protesters charged with rioting during the violent protests last year, as some of the defendants have subsequently jumped bail. Ma said on Wednesday that mechanisms were available to rectify problems in the legal system, if any, including redress by way of an appeal or review, application for recusal filed by the accused or the prosecution, and the established complaint mechanism of the judiciary.

Former pan-democratic legislator Alan Leong, also a lawyer, criticised Chow’s latest remarks as part of a campaign to weaken judicial independence. He likened Chow’s suggestions of creating a separate sentencing committee as ruining the current system by “chopping off its left hand and right hand”.

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