Hopes that changes to the Judges Act (法官法) would help dismiss incompetent or abusive judges have not been met, the Judicial Reform Foundation said on Thursday.
The amended act ordered the Judicial Yuan to establish the Judicial Evaluation Committee to evaluate judges, and the Judicial Personnel Review Committee to evaluate their appointments, removals and transfers.
It also called for the Prosecutors’ Evaluation Committee and the Prosecutors’ Personnel Review Committee to enable judicial authorities or members of the public to request an evaluation of prosecutors.
However, the system has not shown results, foundation chairman Lin Yung-sung (林永頌) said.
Members of the public filed 622 complaints in the past year requesting evaluations of judges or prosecutors, but not one was successful, Lin said.
Records showed that only two cases received hearings.
“The results are worrying for the foundation and people pushing for judicial reform,” Lin said.
The committees should provide information about what would constitute misconduct, negligence or other improper conduct by judicial personnel, he said.
Civic groups and individuals should be allowed to file joint complaints, and committee members should refrain from applying their “legal interpretations,” Lin said, adding that the Judicial Yuan should compile the complaints and their proceedings in an annual report.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) put Taiwan in danger, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday, hours after the de facto US embassy said that Beijing had misinterpreted World War II-era documents to isolate Taiwan. The AIT’s comments harmed the Republic of China’s (ROC) national interests and contradicted a part of the “six assurances” stipulating that the US would not change its official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hsiao said. The “six assurances,” which were given by then-US president Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, say that Washington would not set a date for ending arm sales to Taiwan, consult
A Taiwanese academic yesterday said that Chinese Ambassador to Denmark Wang Xuefeng (王雪峰) disrespected Denmark and Japan when he earlier this year allegedly asked Japan’s embassy to make Taiwan’s representatives leave an event in Copenhagen. The Danish-language Berlingske on Sunday reported the incident in an article with the headline “The emperor’s birthday ended in drama in Copenhagen: More conflict may be on the way between Denmark and China.” It said that on Feb. 26, the Japanese embassy in Denmark held an event for Japanese Emperor Naruhito’s birthday, with about 200 guests in attendance, including representatives from Taiwan. After addressing the Japanese hosts, Wang
RSS