Top court terminates democrat appeal on civil assembly

As the court that handles the New Macau Association’s (NMA) appeal on its June 4 Vigil announced to terminate the legal procedure, the local democrat group “expressed great disappointment” yesterday at a press conference.
The group has declared to host several small-scale vigils on June 4 to commemorate the 31-year-old incident. The Public Security Police Force (PSP) has subsequently refused its right to do so. The group hence filed an appeal with the Court of Final Appeal, which legally handles cases on civil activities.
The top court of the city announced in a statement that it would not proceed with the case on the ground that the ruling would not realize the event on the declared date. The democrat group filed the appeal on June 1.
According to the association, the court stated in its notice to it that “the police only gave a reply [yesterday] morning.” The court carried on saying that the event date was earlier than the legal deadline on which the court should make a judgment, making “[careful] study and discussion of the content of the appeal impossible.”
The court told the group that in the said case, the judgment of the appeal would lose its “useful effect”, with which the group did not agree.
NMA disclosed that its intention to file an appeal was to seek a court’s ruling over the PSP’s decision, which the group considered a breach of law.
At the press conference, lawmaker and member of the association, Sulu Sou, reiterated that the court ruling, if any, is part and parcel to the conservation of the legal rights to civil activities. He added that pursuant to Law on the Prevention, Control and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, which was cited by the PSP to ban the series of vigils, only the Chief Executive has the legal right to implement restrictive measures.
In this case, according to the lawmaker, it is unlawful for the PSP to ban the vigil. AL

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