With China’s human rights record deteriorating this year, Taiwan also showed signs of human rights violations, especially in the areas of police brutality and the judicial system, a human rights expert said yesterday.
Fort Liao (廖福特), a research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Law, said police brutality had intensified in Taiwan, especially during the demonstrations against the visit of Chinese envoy Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) early last month.
“That is why many international human rights groups issued statements condemning human rights violations committed during that period,” Liao said. “Police did not handle the street protests the same way they had over the previous eight years.”
Nor did the previous Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration order any investigation into defense lawyers conveying their defendants’ messages to the outside world, he said.
Liao was referring to the Ministry of Justice’s request that the Taipei District Court and Taipei Bar Association investigate former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) lawyer for allegedly violating the code of ethics of defense lawyers by passing on the former president’s words and thoughts to the media camped outside the Taipei Detention Center where he has been held.
While the bar association’s inquest cleared Chen Shui-bian’s lawyer of any wrongdoing, the Ministry of Justice is still considering whether to continue the probe, Liao said, adding that the government must allow the profession to discipline itself.
Liao made the remarks during a question-and-answer session at a press conference where the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy released its annual report on China’s human rights situation.
Liao said that in addition to police brutality, Taiwan’s criminal justice system is flawed on matters of pretrial detention and the handcuffing of detainees.
As the law stands, suspects under investigation can be detained for two months, which can be extended once for two more months. Suspects awaiting trial can be detained for three months and the detention can be extended twice for two more months at the first or second trial, but only once at the third and final trial.
Liao said the duration of detention should be shortened and that before prosecutors request custody, they should first consider whether it is necessary to detain the suspect and how long the custody should be.
“Prosecutors must realize that detentions are for protecting evidence from being destroyed or preventing a suspect from escaping or colluding with other witnesses, not for forcing confessions from the detainee,” he said.
While Liao said handcuffing a suspect was unnecessary, he said that the former DPP administration condoned the long-standing practice and it was now time to ponder whether it should be “dealt with properly.”
Tsai Chang-yen (蔡昌言), vice president of the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, however, said human rights in Taiwan had not degraded seriuosly this year, but were rather ensured by the second peaceful transfer of power in May.
The foundation’s findings showed that while China may have enacted some legislation aimed at advancing civil liberties, dignity and safety, in reality its human rights records deteriorated in various aspects, including social, political and judicial areas as well as economic, environmental, educational and cultural facets.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and