Several judicial reform activists yesterday called on the judiciary to protect the legal rights of attorneys, detained suspects and convicts as guaranteed in the Constitution.
“At a time when society is highly polarized between pan-blue and pan-green, between those who support [former president] Chen Shui-bian [陳水扁] and those who are against him, we need a rational and independent judiciary that looks after everyone’s rights and brings hope to the society,” Taiwan Bar Association (TWBA) chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄) told a press conference. “The judicial system has yet to pass that test.”
While many have long questioned the human rights record of the judicial system, recent cases had helped to bring the “dark side” under the spotlight, he said.
Chen’s attorney, Cheng Wen-lung (鄭文龍), is now under investigation as the Ministry of Justice suspects that he may have leaked details of ongoing cases when delivering messages from Chen to the public after visiting the former president in detention.
Cheng said that he was accompanied by two prosecutor’s aides each time he met Chen and that the aides would “remind” him when he might have said something inappropriate. He said all his conversations with Chen were recorded and videotaped.
Attorneys representing other suspects and defendants involved in Chen’s alleged cases of embezzlement and accepting brides have also complained about the procedure.
“A meeting between a suspect or defendant and his or her attorney can of course be watched, but no one should be listening to it, recording it or handing those recordings to prosecutors,” Koo said.
Lo Ping-cheng (羅秉成), convener of the Alliance for Human Rights in Criminal Cases, agreed.
“The Detention Law [羇押法] stipulates that a meeting between a detained individual and an attorney may be ‘watched.’ Obviously, having someone listen in and even record the conversation is unlawful,” Lo said. “What happened in Chen’s case is not an isolated one. This unlawful practice has, in fact, long been in existence.”
“Instead of launching an investigation of lawyers over leaks of details of ongoing cases, the judiciary should launch an investigation into the prosecutors to try to find out how the media is able to get so much detailed information on ongoing cases,” Judicial Reform Foundation executive director Lin Feng-jeng (林峰正) said.
TENSIONS: The Chinese aircraft and vessels were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a joint air and sea military exercise, the Ministry of National Defense said A relatively large number of Chinese military aircraft and vessels were detected in Taiwan’s vicinity yesterday morning, apparently en route to a Chinese military exercise in the western Pacific, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. In a statement, the ministry said 36 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, including J-16 fighters and nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or an extension of it, and were detected in the southern and southeastern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) from 5:20am to 9:30am yesterday. They were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
CASES SLOWING: Although weekly COVID-19 cases are rising, the growth rate has been falling, from 90 percent to 30 percent, 14 percent and 6 percent, the CDC said COVID-19 hospitalizations last week rose 6 percent to 987, while deaths soared 55 percent to 99, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that the recent wave of infections would likely peak this week. People aged 65 or older accounted for 79 percent of the hospitalizations and 90 percent of the deaths, the majority of whom have or had underlying health conditions, CDC data showed. The youngest hospitalized case last week was a six-month-old, who was born preterm and was unvaccinated, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. The infant had a fever, coughing and a runny nose early this month, but