The Constitutional Court on Friday ruled unconstitutional the search and seizure of confidential messages shared between lawyers and their clients during a prosecutors’ investigation, and ordered that the law be amended within two years.
The ruling on Articles 122-2 and 133-1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法) came after Lee and Li Attorneys-at-Law challenged the constitutionality of the clauses, when its Hsinchu branch office was raided and messages between staff and clients were seized by prosecutors in a 2011 litigation case.
The law firm said that the prosecutors’ actions had infringed on its right to keep communication with its clients confidential, especially as prosecutors at the time could not prove that the office had committed any wrongdoing to justify their search.
Photo: Taipei Times file
Under the two articles, the premises or properties of any third -party can be searched only if there is probable cause.
A seizure that is not covered by a search warrant must be adjudicated by a judge, except when the item is seized for evidence, the articles say.
The court’s ruling said that the articles fail to take into consideration the attorney-client privilege, which is a rule that protects the confidentiality of communication between lawyers and clients.
The content of the two articles works against Articles 15 and 16 of the Constitution, which stipulate that “the right of existence, the right of work and the right of property shall be guaranteed to the people,” and that “the people shall have the right of presenting petitions, lodging complaints or instituting legal proceedings,” the ruling said.
Agencies should amend the Code of Criminal Procedure within two years, the court said, adding that before the revision of the law is completed, judges and prosecutors should conduct searches and seizures in accordance with the intention of the judgement.
The number of search warrants issued by Taiwanese courts from 2020 to last year averaged nearly 15,000 per year, Constitutional Court head clerk Hsu Chen-chou (許辰舟) said.
During this three-year period, 20 law firms have been searched, of which 18 were due to lawyers having become criminal suspects or because they were involved in collusion to destroy evidence, Hsu said.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
RSS