The Show Trials of Judge Kwok Wai-Kin
A wolf in judge's robes
The following articles are reprinted with permission from the “Hong Kong Law & Policy” blog on Substack of Samuel Bickett, formerly an American corporate lawyer who was arrested in 2019 for allegedly interfering with a police officer who refused to identify himself and who was beating a youth who reportedly had jumped a turnstile. Bickett was ultimately sentenced to four months and two weeks in jail. The experience turned him into a human rights lawyer. He is now based in Washington, DC as a legal fellow at the Georgetown Center for Asian Law.
Part 1
Judge Kwok has transformed from an unassuming civil servant to a virulently pro-Beijing national security judge.
Part 2
Judge Kwok's brazen politicization of four NSL cases, and the lack of consequences for it, shows how far Hong Kong's judiciary has fallen.