Editorial: Taiwan's human rights improving

As repeatedly stressed by the Taiwan government, Taiwan's progress in human-rights protection has become an important bridge linking the country to the international community. So, at the beginning of each year, it is always useful to examine the priority list in this regard for the upcoming year, and there is no better way to go at it than to first take an inventory of the accomplishments and the shortcomings of the previous year.

Most would agree that the Taiwan High Court's decision to overturn the murder convictions of the Hsichih Trio -- Su Chien-ho (蘇建和), Liu Bing-lang (劉秉郎) and Chuang Lin-hsun (莊林勳) -- more than a decade after the murder case took place constitutes a milestone for judicial human rights in Taiwan. The ruling makes it unequivocal that the end, however noble it may be, will never justify the means. Therefore, flaws in evidence-gathering procedure make the evidence thereby gathered, or, more specifically, confessions beaten out of suspects, unacceptable. In other words, procedural due process is no less important than substantive justice. Otherwise, everyone in this society runs the risk of one day being convicted with forced confessions or evidence otherwise gathered through illegal means.

No important to judicial human rights is the Legislative Yuan's amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法), so that the judges can officially reject coerced confessions or any other illegal means. Moreover, defendants' confessions can no longer be the sole basis for criminal conviction. The amendments also incorporate the principle of "innocent until proven guilty" into Taiwanese law. Henceforward, all defendants will be presumed innocent until a guilty verdict is entered.

On the other hand, the vote-buying scandal in the election for Kaohsiung City Council speaker and deputy speaker again highlighted a black hole in Taiwan's judicial system -- the frustrating slowness of the courts in trying cases. It isn't unusual for the entire process to take more than a decade. This is especially a problem in cases where the defendants are lawmakers charged with corruption or vote-buying. By the time a final guilty verdict is obtained, these individuals have more than likely completed their terms, since they can't be removed from their posts until they have exhausted all appeals against the guilty verdict.

This is also extremely unfair to defendants who are, in reality, innocent, because they have to deal with others' suspicion and the vexation and drain on resources of litigation over a prolonged period of time. This is clearly a violation of the internationally accepted right to a speedy trial.

In the upcoming year, therefore, it is to be hoped that the courts of this country will live up to the expectations of the general public and improve in this regard. At least two things give reasons for optimism. First, about two weeks ago, the Judicial Yuan announced a list of 16 judges and initiated an internal review of their competence for withholding hearings on as many as 29 cases without justification.

Moreover, only last week, the Supreme Court turned down an appeal of a guilty verdict against DPP lawmaker Chou Po-lun (周伯倫) for corruption, finalizing the verdict at last after Chou was initially prosecuted in 1989. Chou will be removed from his seat in the Legislative Yuan in order to serve a six-year sentence.

All these demonstrate the ruling party's determination to improve the situation, even when one of their own is involved and even when this means it will lose one badly needed seat in the Legislative Yuan where fierce battles with the opposition are taking place almost daily. In this regard, the government should enjoy the backing of the general public.