Panelists attending a seminar on pretrial detention yesterday called on the government to reform the detention system, which they said violated a suspect’s right to the presumption of innocence and also violated the right to a fair trial.
The Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法) allows prosecutors to request a suspect be detained for two months and to ask for an extension — for a maximum of two months — if they consider it necessary to continuing detaining a suspect, but there is no maximum detention length for suspects who face a sentence of more than 10 years if convicted.
OLD-FASHIONED
“Detention in felony cases and unlimited detentions of suspected criminals are an old-fashioned mindset and pose a serious challenge for human rights protection in modern states,” Chen Tze-lung (陳志龍), a professor of law at National Taiwan University, said at the seminar hosted by the Control Yuan.
“They especially run counter to the ideals of presumption of innocence and efficient processing of cases,” said Chen, who has published a paper reviewing the rationale behind the use detention in felony cases.
Former National Chung Hsing University president Huan Tong-shong (黃東熊), another panelist, agreed with Chen.
“The detention of suspects breaks human rights principles in the first place,” Huan said.
DEFENSE HINDERED
“It especially complicates the situation when it comes to felony suspects because it poses lots of difficulties for an attorney to effectively prepare a defense for the defendant,” he said.
Huan also suggested the government set up an exit mechanism for unfit prosecutors and judges.
“No matter how sound a system is, it is the abuse of power by persons that cause problems,” he said.
Huan said the detention system was similar to the UK’s.
But in the UK, 97 percent of detention cases were based on concerns that the suspects might flee, while in Taiwan, only 31 percent of detention cases were based on that reason, he said.
PRE-JUDGING
Taiwan Bar Association chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said that to detain a felony suspect whose case was before the court was tantamount to ruling that the suspect was guilty before trial.
“If a suspect is detained over alleged felonies, it’s hard to expect that judges would not have the mindset that the suspect is guilty,” Koo said.
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
Weather conditions across Taiwan are expected to remain stable today, but cloudy to rainy skies are expected from tomorrow onward due to increasing moisture in the atmosphere, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). Daytime highs today are expected to hit 25-27°C in western Taiwan and 22-24°C in the eastern counties of Yilan, Hualien, and Taitung, data on the CWA website indicated. After sunset, temperatures could drop to 16-17°C in most parts of Taiwan. For tomorrow, precipitation is likely in northern Taiwan as a cloud system moves in from China. Daytime temperatures are expected to hover around 25°C, the CWA said. Starting Monday, areas
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
RSS