The Constitutional Court on Monday said in a judgement that a rule governing how appeals in criminal cases are allotted to Supreme Court judges does not violate the Constitution, narrowing hopes for retrials for 35 people on death row.
Fifty-two people, including 35 people who have been sentenced to death, requested an interpretation of the Supreme Court’s case allotment rules, which stipulate that serious criminal cases appealed to the Supreme Court after being sent back to lower courts at least twice must be heard by the same judge who heard them previously, unless that judge has left the court.
The rule is intended to ensure that appeals do not take too long by having a presiding judge who is familiar with the case.
Photo: CNA
The petitioners argued that the rule contravened their constitutional right to a fair trial.
However, the Constitutional Court said that requiring the same judge to hear such cases did not contravene the right to appeal as stipulated in Article 16 of the Constitution.
Judges should recuse themselves if they are selected to hear an appeal of a case in which they have previously participated in issuing a verdict, it added.
The Constitutional Court gave the legislature two years to amend recusal laws in the Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法).
If the court had ruled in favor of the petitioners, the 35 people on death row who had cases allotted according to the rule might have been eligible for retrials.
In related news, the Ministry of Justice on Monday said that it was currently unable to carry out executions, as the 38 people on death row have a separate petition pending before the Constitutional Court.
Hong Kong singer Andy Lau’s (劉德華) concert in Taipei tonight has been cancelled due to Typhoon Kong-rei and is to be held at noon on Saturday instead, the concert organizer SuperDome said in a statement this afternoon. Tonight’s concert at Taipei Arena was to be the first of four consecutive nightly performances by Lau in Taipei, but it was called off at the request of Taipei Metro, the operator of the venue, due to the weather, said the organizer. Taipei Metro said the concert was cancelled out of consideration for the audience’s safety. The decision disappointed a number of Lau’s fans who had
Commuters in Taipei picked their way through debris and navigated disrupted transit schedules this morning on their way to work and school, as the city was still working to clear the streets in the aftermath of Typhoon Kong-rey. By 11pm yesterday, there were estimated 2,000 trees down in the city, as well as 390 reports of infrastructure damage, 318 reports of building damage and 307 reports of fallen signs, the Taipei Public Works Department said. Workers were mobilized late last night to clear the debris as soon as possible, the department said. However, as of this morning, many people were leaving messages
A Canadian dental assistant was recently indicted by prosecutors after she was caught in August trying to smuggle 32kg of marijuana into Taiwan, the Aviation Police Bureau said on Wednesday. The 30-year-old was arrested on Aug. 4 after arriving on a flight to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Chang Tsung-lung (張驄瀧), a squad chief in the Aviation Police Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division, told reporters. Customs officials noticed irregularities when the woman’s two suitcases passed through X-ray baggage scanners, Chang said. Upon searching them, officers discovered 32.61kg of marijuana, which local media outlets estimated to have a market value of more than NT$50 million (US$1.56
FATALITIES: The storm claimed at least two lives — a female passenger in a truck that was struck by a falling tree and a man who was hit by a utility pole Workers cleared fallen trees and shop owners swept up debris yesterday after one of the biggest typhoons to hit the nation in decades claimed at least two lives. Typhoon Kong-rey was packing winds of 184kph when it slammed into eastern Taiwan on Thursday, uprooting trees, triggering floods and landslides, and knocking out power as it swept across the nation. A 56-year-old female foreign national died from her injuries after the small truck she was in was struck by a falling tree on Provincial Highway 14A early on Thursday. The second death was reported at 8pm in Taipei on Thursday after a 48-year-old man