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1st LD: HK's High Court disqualifies two nation-insulting legislators-elect

Xinhua, November 15, 2016 Adjust font size:

Hong Kong's High Court on Tuesday ruled that two legislators-elect, who used language insulting the Chinese nation while taking their oaths, must be disqualified as lawmakers.

The ruling came after the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) government and Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying filed a judicial review on Oct. 18 against the decision by the president of the Legislative Council (LegCo) to give the pair a second chance to be sworn in.

Justice Thomas Au ruled in favor of the SAR government, finding that the oaths purportedly taken by the duo contravened the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Oaths and Declarations Ordinance, and are invalid and void and have no legal effect.

The two legislators-elect have been disqualified from assuming office and have vacated their seats as members of the LegCo since Oct. 12, and are not entitled to act as members of the LegCo, according to the verdict.

The court also ruled that the president of LegCo, Leung Kwan-yuen, has no power to re-administer or allow for re-administration of any future oath-taking by the two.

The two legislators-elect, Leung Chung-hang and Yau Wai-ching, used derogatory language insulting the Chinese nation when reading out their oaths at a swearing-in ceremony on Oct. 12. They also displayed banners proclaiming "Hong Kong is Not China."

Their provocative behavior has prompted the top legislature of the country, the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, to issue an interpretation of Article 104 of the Basic Law of Hong Kong SAR, clarifying the implications and requirements for oath-taking by Hong Kong legislators-elect. Endit