May 26-June 1
China
The Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) released four guiding cases highlighting its role in supervising administrative judgments. The cases involve the identification of work-related injuries, a land transaction, women’s inheritance rights, and government subsidies for the families of martyrs. In the most interesting case, Case No. 207, the SPP said that procuratorates should protect the rights of women who inherit a share in a rural family home even though they may not be a member of the village economic collective due to marriage outside the village. Litigants applied for prosecutorial supervision of their administrative claims in nearly 25,000 cases in 2023.
The SPP marked international Children’s Day (June 1) by releasing a White Paper on Procuratorial Work with Minors (2023), containing statistics about arrests and prosecutions involving crimes against children and crimes committed by children. Theft, rape, public fighting, robbery, fraud, and picking quarrels and provoking trouble accounted for 75% of juvenile cases handled by procuratorates in 2023.
The Supreme People's Court issued Opinions on Comprehensively Strengthening the Judicial Protection of Minors and Preventing and Managing Crimes (《面加强未成年人司法保护及犯罪防治工作的意见》) . The document provides guidance on handling civil and administrative cases involving minors, crimes committed by minors, student bullying, school dispute resolution, and the responsibility of hospitality and entertainment providers in cases of sexual assault against minors. It also calls for the establishment of a mechanism to analyze and report on implementation of the mandatory reporting system.
The Ministry of Education issued a notice directing schools to take measures to prevent bullying. Schools must establish a bullying control committee to identify bullying behavior and handle complaints. They also must develop rules for dealing with and preventing bullying, strengthen education on bullying prevention, and achieve full coverage of video surveillance in corridors, rooftops, storage rooms, and other places where bullying may occur.
A court convicted a former senior banker of accepting bribes worth more than 1.1 billion yuan (US$151 million) and sentenced him to death. Bai Tianhui was general manager of China Huarong International Holdings, one of China’s four state asset management companies. While thousands of officials have been convicted in the government’s ongoing anti-corruption campaign, death sentences that are not suspended have been rare.
The Shanghai Intellectual Property Court rejected a consumer's claim that Apple abuses its market dominance by charging high app store fees. The plaintiff, Jin Xin, said he had to pay more for some app membership fees on an iPhone than on Android phones because of the 30% commission that Apple charges app developers. The court said there was no evidence that the fees directly led to higher prices for consumers.
Hong Kong
The High Court convicted fourteen democrats of attempting to subvert state power by holding unauthorized primary elections for the city’s legislature in 2020. The court acquitted two other defendants but prosecutors said they would appeal. The defendants were among 47 scholars, activists, journalists, lawyers and students who were arrested in January 2021 under the National Security Law; 31 pleaded guilty in hopes of getting lighter sentences. The governments of the US, European Union, Britain, and Australia and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk expressed deep concern over the verdicts. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said the central government supports Hong Kong’s law enforcement.
Police accused six persons of sedition for allegedly making Facebook posts that memorialized China’s 1989 Tiananmen protests. Police said the posts were intended to incite dissatisfaction or hatred of the government and encourage others to organize activities that might endanger national security. Among the six was lawyer Chow Hang-tung, who helped organize annual Tiananmen vigils until the government halted them in 2021. The charges were the first brought under Hong Kong’s new domestic security law. A seventh person who was arrested later in the case was also accused of providing funds to overseas activist Nathan Law and others through an online subscription platform.
The West Kowloon Magistrates’ Court convicted eleven persons of taking part in a riot on November 18, 2019, a day of violent clashes between police and protesters in the Yau Ma Tei neighborhood. It was one of the most violent days of the city’s months-protests sparked by a government plan to allow extradition to mainland China. In one courtroom, Judge Leung Ka-kie found three persons guilty and acquitted a fourth. In another courtroom, Judge Peony Wong convicted eight other defendants and acquitted three persons. Those acquitted were judged to have been bystanders caught up in police sweeps. More than 200 persons were arrested at the time.
Japan
The Supreme Court heard testimony from victims of forced sterilization under Japan’s former eugenics law, which was in effect from 1948-1996. The court is deliberating five cases brought by a total of 39 plaintiffs who are seeking government compensation. Four lower courts rules in favor of the victims, but one rejected their claims as time-barred. The Supreme Court is expected to hand down verdicts in all five cases this summer.
The UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights issued a wide-ranging report about rights problems in Japan, including the gender wage gap, unhealthy working conditions for migrants, and discrimination against members of the indigenous, disabled, and LGBTQ communities. The report also said protection of whistleblowers in Japan and access to the judicial process need to be improved.
The legislature amended the Basic Law on Food, Agriculture and Rural Areas to require new measures intended to ensure a stable food supply despite external supply shocks. Among other things, the revised law emphasizes ensuring stable food imports, stockpiling food, using new technologies in farming, revitalizing farming communities, and boosting exports to maintain production capacity even as the declining population reduces demand for food.
The Utsunomiya District Court convicted three teachers of professional negligence and sentenced them to two years in prison for leading high school students on a hike during which they were struck by an avalanche. Seven students and one teacher died in the 2017 accident. In a separate civil suit in 2023, the court ordered the prefectural government and prefectural high school athletic association to pay damages to the victims’ families.
The Tokyo District Court fined Shu Goto, a former private secretary to ex-lawmaker Mito Kakizawa, 5,000,000 yen ($32,000) for violating the election law by offering cash to Koto Ward assembly members during last April's mayoral election. Kakizawa was found guilty of illegal campaign finance in March.
Koreas
South Korea's Supreme Court upheld the conviction of a journalist convicted in 2019 of revealing the name and photo of an accused child abuser in a news report. The Anti-Child Abuse Act bans media reporting of the personal information of both child abusers and their victims. The court rejected his lawyer’s argument that the reporter had the consent of the children and their parents to identify the abuser, a teacher. The journalist’s sentence was a suspended fine of 1 million won ($730).
South Korea's Supreme Court upheld a two-year prison sentence for a scientist who leaked autonomous vehicle technologies to China. He was convicted of leaking remote-sending technologies from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology to Chinese professors from 2017 to 2020.
Prosecutors are investigating ten members of a nationalist vigilante organization accused of apprehending foreigners for alleged traffic violations. It was not known how many persons they questioned and detained. Police said they would respond sternly to crimes against foreigners. South Korea has seen a sharp increase in the number of foreign workers in recent years.
Taiwan
The opposition-controlled Legislative Yuan passed controversial amendments to the Law Governing the Legislative Yuan’s Power (立法院職權行使法) as tens of thousands of citizens protested outside the chamber. The amendments give lawmakers the power to investigate officials and private companies, compel their testimony, and punish those who are uncooperative or untruthful. Premier Cho Jung-tai of the Democratic Progressive Party, which won the presidency but has a minority of legislative seats, said the Executive Yuan may send the bills back to the legislature for reconsideration if it finds problems with them. Another DPP official said DPP lawmakers may petition the Constitutional Court to rule on whether the proposed changes are constitutional. Meanwhile, a group of 123 legal scholars signed a statement critiquing the amendments as failing the tests of proportionality, legal certainty and procedural justice.