Extraterritoriality gone awry
Comparing the protests in Hong Kong against a bill for allowing extradition to China to the protests in the Czech Republic against Justice Min. Marie Benešová and PM Andrej Babiš was too tempting for some commentators to pass up. Martin Ehl wrote last week in HN that the Czech protests aren't taking place in isolation and that citizens of Russia, Albania and Hong Kong have also been consumed by a sense of desperation that their political systems are being abused by more-or-less democratically elected leaders. The desperation in Hong Kong is greater, he acknowledged, because of the risk posed by Mainland China. This was before an MFD news report called attention to several Czech court decisions, including by the Supreme Court and Constitutional Court, clearing the way for eight Taiwanese to be extradited to China for crimes allegedly committed online against Chinese citizens in Australia. No crime was committed in China, but the CR is preparing to send eight non-Chinese citizens to China for trial. Their desperate protests have gone unheard in democratically established Czech courts.
Glossary of difficult words
Correction: The link to the Constitutional Court ruling has been corrected;extraterritoriality/extraterritorial jurisdiction - the authority of a state to make, apply and enforce rules of conduct in respect of persons, property or events beyond its territory;
to go awry - to fall into disorder;
extradition - the action of handing over a person accused or convicted of a crime;
to pass up - to let go by without accepting or taking advantage of.