Amendments to the Regulations of Audio Recording in Court and Their Use and Preservation (法庭錄音及其利用保存辦法) are aimed at protecting the rights of defendants, Judicial Yuan senior officials said.
The amendments ensure that video footage, audio recordings and written court transcripts of cases where prosecutors are seeking the death penalty or life imprisonment are stored permanently and that such material is made available to defendants on request, officials said.
Under the amendments such material is to come under the purview of the Archives Act (檔案法), Article 11 of which states: “Permanent records shall be transferred to the central archives authority-in-charge. The regulation governing such transfers shall be drafted by the central archives authority-in-charge and to be approved by the Executive Yuan.”
The amendments would enhance transparency of the judiciary system, improve the quality and efficacy of court proceedings, increase public trust in legal institutions, and also protect the rights of defendants and lawyers, officials said.
A senior judge, speaking on request of anonymity, said the new measures would allow more access to court audio and video recordings, because presiding judges in the past have mostly denied the requests of defendants’ legal teams to inspect this kind of material.
He said this led many people to believe that judges were trying to evade public scrutiny of court proceedings.
The judges’ refusal to allow access to recordings was due to a genuine concern that opening up court documents would lead to the leaking of personal information, he said.
The judge said he believed the potential for such event to occur would reduced following the amendments, as anyone who distributes audio or video recordings taken in court, or uses them in illicit ways, can be punished with a maximum of three months in jail, or a fine of NT$30,000.
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