Hong Kong’s judiciary refuted claims that its chief justice warned judges to acquit protesters in court cases, after two pro-Beijing lawmakers said they received an anonymous letter from a judge alleging they were given the orders.

The “shocking” letter was purportedly sent to Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong lawmakers Elizabeth Quat and Holden Chow recently, according to the pair in a Facebook video uploaded on Thursday.

In the letter, Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma and Albert Wong, a judge at the Court of First Instance of the High Court, were said to have hosted a seminar on Aug. 3 with all magistrate judges.

During that meeting, the letter claimed, Ma warned all magistrate judges to be cautious with their words and actions, and to take into account the feelings of Hong Kong residents.

For trials involving protesters arrested during anti-extradition bill protests last year, the accused should be given the benefit of the doubt and be set free unless there was strong evidence that pointed otherwise, the letter continued.

Ma and Wong then later had a meeting with four magistrate judges in charge of national security cases, the two lawmakers said, quoting from the letter.

In the Facebook video, Quat said she had confirmed with a judge that such a seminar had taken place. Chow said the writer of the anonymous letter had labelled him or herself as a “blue ribbon judge,” referring to those whose political stance sided with the government and the police.

In response to media inquiries, the judiciary rejected the claims, saying the contents of the letter were not true and that Ma did not meet any magistrate judges after the seminar.

Chow on Thursday urged the judiciary to make further clarifications. The judiciary, in its response, “did not specify which parts were not true, nor did it say all of the contents were untrue,” he said.

Pan-democratic lawmaker Alvin Yeung of the Civic Party, who is a barrister, criticized the DAB pair for making irresponsible remarks based on a suspicious anonymous letter, given their roles in society. Chow, who was also a lawyer himself, should know full well that judges would not label themselves as “yellow ribbon” — those that sided with protesters — or “blue ribbon,” Yeung said.

Click here for Chinese version

---------------------------------

Apple Daily’s all-new English Edition is now available on the mobile app: bit.ly/2yMMfQE

To download the latest version,

iOS: bit.ly/AD_iOS

Android: bit.ly/AD_android

Or search Appledaily in App Store or Google Play