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Copyright © 2024 CGTN. 京ICP备20000184号
Disinformation report hotline: 010-85061466
Article 23 of HKSAR Basic Law is enacted, outlawing 7 national security offenses. Amidst concerns of potential wrongful charges against ordinary people, Lawrence Ma, Chairman of Hong Kong Legal Exchange Foundation, assures that without intention, there is no risk of conviction.
Liu Xin: For instance, an ordinary person without intention to harm national security. How can they be protected that they are not being charged with a crime, which specifically emphasizes the intention to harm national security?
Lawrence Ma: Of course, I mean if you understand the common law system, the common law system for any criminal offenses, the prosecution has to prove two things. One is mens rea, the other is actus reus.
What mens rea means is the intention. If you do not have the intention to commit a crime, then you cannot be charged. And even you're charged, you will not be convicted for that crime. So mens rea has been the cardinal requirement, or the intention has been a cardinal requirement of proving a crime being committed and conviction.
So that is still in Hong Kong Article 23. Legislators have not done it away. It can't be done away. It is always in our criminal justice system. So people do not have to worry. If you do not have the intention to commit a crime, you won't be convicted or you won't be charged.