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#Oppression #FailedState
Hong Kong law firm Vidler & Co, which handled protest-related cases announced closure after 19 years

A Hong Kong law firm, which specialised in Human Rights and handled multiple cases related to the 2019 protests will soon cease practising.

The Law Society of Hong Kong notified members that Vidler & Co. intended to cease practice on June 3 after 19 years of operations.

The firm took on several controversial incidents, including an alleged police gang rape and the case of Indonesian journalist Veby Mega Indah, who was allegedly shot in the face with a police projectile.

#MichaelVidler, owner of the firm, has also represented Joshua Wong Chi-fung and protester Ken Tsang Kin-chiu, who was beaten by several police officers in a dark corner in Admiralty.

4 days after the company announced its closure, Vidler was seen leaving the city on 25 April. In the airport, he was bombarded by a group of reporters from Ta Kung Pao, a CCP mouthpiece with questions in Chinese.

Reporters urged him to explain whether his departure is related to #PaulHarris who has left in March this year.

Vidler is on the panel of solicitors for the Legal Aid Department, the Duty Lawyer Scheme and is an approved solicitor for a number of consulates in Hong Kong.

He was twice elected in 2011 and 2017 as a representative of the legal functional constituency on the 1,200-member Election Committee, which is tasked with nominating and choosing Hong Kong's chief executive.

Sources: Ming Pao, Chaser News
https://news.mingpao.com/ins/%e6%b8%af%e8%81%9e/article/20220421/s00001/1650518079447

The Chaser News; #Apr25

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Barrister #PaulHarris Leaves Hong Kong After Being Approached by National Security Police
https://publielectoral.lat/guardiansofhongkong/32345
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#PressFreedom #Award #FCC #HKJournalistsAssociation
Hong Kong journalists win Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan press freedom prize

While the Foreign Correspondents’ Club (#FCC) in Hong Kong scrapped its annual human rights press awards just days before it was due to announce winners, claiming fear over the city’s wide-ranging national security law, the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan offered Freedom of the Press Asia Award to all Hong Kong journalists.

Freelance journalist Ilgin Yorulmaz, co-chair of the club’s press freedom committee, said that the award recognised journalists and media organisations who fight for free speech, the free exchange of information, and fight against censorship.

Upon receiving the award, Ronson Chan, Associate Chairman of Hong Kong Journalists Association, said "although the environment changed, most of us have remained in our position and try our best to find the truth for the Hong Kong community.”

Source: Inmediahk, #Apr25

https://bit.ly/3Mn4lsK