The Constitutional Court on Monday is to rule on whether a legal clause requiring third appeals by death-row inmates to be tried by the same judge is unconstitutional.
A current Supreme Court procedural rule states that “cases remanded twice and appealed for a third trial,” and “serious criminal cases remanded and re-appealed” should be heard by the same presiding judge, commonly referred to as the "same judge clause."
Photo: CNA
Thirty-five death row inmates have petitioned for a constitutional interpretation of the clause, saying that it infringes on their legal rights.
If the clause is ruled to be unconstitutional, and the grand justices have not made other provisional sanctions, the 35 prisoners can request the Chief Prosecutor to file an extraordinary appeal for a retrial. If the Supreme Court decides to revoke the original verdict and remands the case, death row inmates detained for over five years must be released according to the Criminal Speedy Trial Act (刑事妥速審判法).
However, if the clause is not ruled to be unconstitutional, the inmates would not have any legal recourse, and would remain in custody awaiting execution.
Monday’s ruling will address the same judge clause, as well as other Supreme Court procedural issues, in an amalgamated case that has been in trial for 10 months.
No cases will be tried by the Constitutional Court for one month following the ruling.
Civil society groups yesterday protested outside the Legislative Yuan, decrying Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) efforts to pass three major bills that they said would seriously harm Taiwan’s democracy, and called to oust KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁). It was the second night of the three-day “Bluebird wintertime action” protests in Taipei, with organizers announcing that 8,000 people attended. Organized by Taiwan Citizen Front, the Economic Democracy Union (EDU) and a coalition of civil groups, about 6,000 people began a demonstration in front of KMT party headquarters in Taipei on Wednesday, organizers said. For the third day, the organizers asked people to assemble
POOR IMPLEMENTATION: Teachers welcomed the suspension, saying that the scheme disrupted school schedules, quality of learning and the milk market A policy to offer free milk to all school-age children nationwide is to be suspended next year due to multiple problems arising from implementation of the policy, the Executive Yuan announced yesterday. The policy was designed to increase the calcium intake of school-age children in Taiwan by drinking milk, as more than 80 percent drink less than 240ml per day. The recommended amount is 480ml. It was also implemented to help Taiwanese dairy farmers counter competition from fresh milk produced in New Zealand, which is to be imported to Taiwan tariff-free next year when the Agreement Between New Zealand and
‘NEW NORMAL’: A Japanese official said the drills show that the PLA can carry out large maneuvers without announcement, ‘leaving all of us struggling to respond’ Beijing’s recent naval exercises have left Taiwan and the US “struggling” for a response as the two nations drew different conclusions about the implications of the Chinese military drills, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Sunday. Taiwan has been bracing for China to hold military drills to retaliate against President William Lai’s (賴清德) diplomatic visits abroad, the outlet said, referring to Lai’s Nov. 30 to Dec. 6 tour to Taiwan’s three South Pacific allies, which included stopovers in Hawaii and Guam. Beijing announced partial air traffic restrictions across seven time zones along its coast from Shanghai to Hong Kong over two days. Yet,
CONNECTED: A survey of students from third grade to university seniors showed that 80% had cellphones, spending on average 37.27 hours per week on them Line users in Taiwan made an average of 100 million voice or video calls each day this year, while “like/thumbs up” was the most frequently used emoji in reaction to a message on the service, the Tokyo-based operator of the messaging app said yesterday. The app’s ability to adjust the quality of video and voice calls helps contribute to its frequent use, LY Corp said in a statement. As of Nov. 30, Line users in Taiwan spent an average of about one hour per day on the app, often checking it in the morning for messages that might have come through overnight,
RSS