The Constitutional Court on Friday ruled that corroborated statements given to prosecutors or judicial police by absent witnesses are admissible as evidence.
The court issued the ruling in response to a request for an interpretation filed by death row inmates Wang Hsin-fu (王信福) and Shen Hung-lin (沈鴻霖), along with three other people in April last year.
That filing said that Article 159-3 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法) contradicted Article 8 of the Constitution, which deals with basic rules for arrests, detention and trials, and also contradicts Article 16 of the Constitution, which protects people’s litigation rights, on the grounds that the article deprives defendants of their right of confrontation, and that it allows “uncorroborated” police statements to serve as evidence.
Photo: Wu Cheng-feng, Taipei Times
The petitioners questioned the constitutionality of clauses allowing prosecutors or judicial police officers to use corroborated statements already given by the litigants as evidence, if such statements are necessary for proving guilt or innocence when witnesses cannot attend a trial.
While acknowledging that Article 159-3 of the Code of Criminal Procedure would curtail defendants’ right to cross-examine witnesses, the Constitutional Court in its ruling pointed to the provision that requires a court to scrutinize statements given by absent witnesses in addition to ensuring that the defendant’s right of confrontation is duly compensated for and thus adequately protected.
Additionally, statements provided to prosecutors or judicial police officers by absent witnesses prior to a trial may not serve as the sole piece of evidence based on which a court passes down a guilty verdict, the ruling said.
As such, Article 159-3 of the Code of Criminal Procedure does not contradict articles 8 and 16 of the Constitution, the ruling said.
The Supreme Court in 2011 sentenced Wang to death for ordering Chen Jung-chieh (陳榮傑) to fatally shoot two police officers in 1990. Chen was sentenced to death in 1992 and executed that same year. Wang fled and was not apprehended until 2006.
Shen is on death row for raping and killing two female workers in their dormitory with two other perpetrators, Huang Hsi-jen (黃錫任) and Huang Chi-hsiung (黃啟雄), who were arrested and executed in 1990 and 1991 respectively.
Shen was not captured until 2003. The Supreme Court in 2009 sentenced him to death.
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
The government would cancel kendo practitioner Su Yu-cheng’s (蘇郁程) nationality if he is confirmed to have represented China in the World Kendo Championships in Milan, Italy, last week, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday. “We have consulted the Sports Administration and were told that athletes participating in the championships must have the nationality of the country that they represent. They must also present their passports as proof,” council spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a weekly news conference. “If Su indeed represented China in the championships, we suspect that he has obtained Chinese nationality.” The Act Governing Relations Between the People of the