Hong Kong Case Law: Decisions & Judgments | LexChat

Hong Kong Case Law

Detention of prosecution witnesses
  • 7 Oct 1993

    ATTORNEY GENERAL v. TRAN VAN TIEP

    Citation
    ATTORNEY GENERAL v. TRAN VAN TIEP
    Court
    Court of First Instance
    Case number
    HCMP3312/1993

    The court granted detention for the 20 respondents for a period not exceeding 21 days from 8 October 1993 because, on balance, the powerful public interest in securing availability of material evidence at a major criminal trial outweighed the respondents' liberty interests; the court found a realistic prospect that the witnesses could give evidence within a reasonable time (by end of December) and confined detention to a limited, reasonably necessary period. Jurisdictional objections were inapplicable because valid executive authorisations under s13E preceded s32(4)(a) orders in these cases.