WaterstarRunner

Hey Sam,

One thing that has become apparent in the aftermath of the protests is that some people have really been poorly served by the typical low-cost defence lawyer who will ignore the circumstances of the case and aim to plead out proceedings in the quickest possible manner. While this might be expedient for a teenage shoplifter aiming for a bind-over,, the department of justice doesn’t seem to want to do bind-overs for protest-related offences. From the outside the only winner looks to be fixed-fee lawyering.

Many cases where the prosecution has presented a manifestly false summary of facts or a bizarre interpretation of statute have simply been met with a guilty plea, and the sentences do not seem particularly lenient for non-contested proceedings.

Over the course of 2020, justice at least seemed to favour those whose lawyers contested blatantly false police testimony, however now the lower court magistrates and judges seem to be more fearful of repercussions in delivering a verdict that questions police conduct in any manner.

My questions on the above are:

• How much did you see of people locked up solely because of cheap plea-based lawyering?

• Do you see a drift over time in individual magistrates / district court judges, or is it simply down to the personality of the presiding individual?

• Is there judge-shopping going on by the DoJ for non security-law protest proceedings?

• Do you think that appeals are likely to find a more favourable hearing in higher courts, or at this point is pursuing an appeal simply a mechanism so that “injustice is seen to be done”?

As an inmate, did you get enough letters?

What sort of thing would you want more of? I hear they have strong limits on books, so I'd imagine letters might be able to contain more art, literature, world current affairs, science and tech, educational material and so on.

Also, are you able to share letters?

the forgotten people of Hong Kong--and what became clear is that they have never been treated well by the Police

Heard this from police themselves. There seems to be a switch in some peoples' heads that they turn off, and suddenly they no longer see _________¹ as human.

‏‏‎ ‎¹ ‏‏‎ ‎^{insert‏‏‎} ‎^your ‏‏‎ ‎^{‎own‏‏‎} ‎^{prejudice‏‏‎} ‎^here