June 19-June 25
China
China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee met to review eight bills this week, including the Sports Law (体育法) and Black Soil Protection Law (黑土地保护法) (both third and final review); Anti-Monopoly Law (反垄断法), National People’s Congress Standing Committee Rules of Procedure (全国人民代表大会常务委员会议事规则), Law Against Telecom and Online Fraud (反电信网络诈骗法), Agricultural Products Quality and Safety Law (农产品质量安全法), and Yellow River Protection Law (黄河保护法) (all second review); and Civil Compulsory Enforcement Law (民事强制执行法) (first review).
The Beijing Municipal High People's Court upheld the district court’s conviction of Wang Linqing, a former assistant judge at the Supreme People’s Court (SPC), for taking bribes and illegally obtaining national secrets. Wang was sentenced in May to 14 years in prison. In 2018, Wang came to public attention after a well-known former news anchor disclosed on social media that he had received photos and videos from Wang claiming that court documents from a dispute before the SPC were missing. An investigation led by the CCP Central Political and Legal Committee concluded that Wang’s claims were fabricated.
Hong Kong
Incoming Chief Executive John Lee announced the full membership of his Executive Council, including 21 principal officials and 16 non-official members, with the highest proportion of women of any post-colonial administration. The government describes the Executive Council as an “organ for assisting the Chief Executive in policymaking.”
Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal, the city’s top court, held a hearing on the meaning of a provision in the Summary Offenses Ordinance that criminalizes possession of “instruments fit for unlawful purposes.” The challenge was raised by Chan Chun-kit, a real estate agent who was convicted under that provision in 2020 and sentenced to 5.5 months in jail after he was found carrying 48 6-inch zip ties near a political rally. Chan’s lawyer argued that zip ties - especially such short ones - do not fall within the scope of the provision.
Japan
The Osaka District Court ruled that a ban on same-sex marriage is constitutional. Another court at the same level, in Sapporo, reached the opposite conclusion in March 2021, and advocates who filed similar claims in courts around the country were hoping for a wave of positive decisions that would put pressure on the legislature to act. Japanese law currently does not allow same-sex couples to marry, inherit each other's assets, or have parental rights over each other's children. Some municipalities issue partnership certificates that help same-sex couples to rent a property together and have hospital visitation rights. The Tokyo assembly decided earlier this month to begin issuing such certificates in November.
The Kagoshima District Court rejected a fourth request for a criminal retrial from Ayako Haraguchi, a 95-year-old woman who served a 10-year prison term for a murder she has long claimed she did not commit. The court said it could not be ruled out that the victim actually died from an accident, but that the new evidence provided by the defense was not enough to overturn the 1981 conviction. The defense team planned to appeal.
The Tokyo District Court ordered the government to pay 100,000 Yen ($734) in compensation to Andre Kussunoki, a Brazilian detained by the Tokyo Regional Immigration Services Bureau, for injuries he sustained from unlawful physical restraints used by immigration officials. Treatment of detainees has gained attention since the death last year of a Sri Lankan woman while in detention at an immigration center in central Japan.
Koreas
South Korea’s Supreme Prosecutors Office announced plans to form a joint investigation team with the National Police Agency, Financial Services Commission, Financial Supervisory Service, and Korea Communications Commission to crack down on voice phishing scams that cause damage worth more than 700 billion won ($538 million) annually. It also plans to strengthen cooperation with investigative authorities in China, the Philippines, and other countries where overseas voice phishing organizations are believed to be based.
South Korea’s Unification Minister Kwon Young-se will push to establish a North Korean human rights foundation to investigate human rights in North Korea and engage in research and policy development to improve North Korean human rights and humanitarian assistance. The South Korean government enacted the North Korean Human Rights Act in March 2016, laying the legal and institutional groundwork for launching such a foundation, but action was delayed by opposition from the Democratic Party of Korea. Kwon said the government will not use human rights to apply pressure on the Kim Jong-un regime.
Taiwan
The Control Yuan has stepped into the controversial case of Tama Talum, an indigenous Bunun man who was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison for using an illegal rifle and killing a protected species. The Constitutional Court last year found constitutional problems in the case and sent it back to the Supreme Court, and President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) then pardoned Talum. The Control Yuan now says that it will ask the Ministry of Justice to facilitate an extraordinary appeal by the prosecutor-general to overturn Talum’s criminal conviction.
The Executive Yuan approved a draft amendment to the Criminal Code that would treat driving a vehicle under the influence of narcotics as an “offense against public safety” with a maximum 3-year sentence and NT$30,000 ($1,009) fine. The draft amendment now goes to the Legislative Yuan for consideration.