Judicial Yuan President Weng Yueh-sheng (
Weng's mail to Wang referred to the latest version of the proposed statute, which would give the members of the special task force the authorization to issue orders to prosecutors throughout the investigation of the case. Weng implied in his letter that lawmakers should amend the current version of the stature before they pass it, or else it would be invalidated anyway because of conflict with the Constitution.
Wang said yesterday that he would inform the legislature of Weng's letter, but that the final decision still depended on the lawmakers.
In addition to Weng's letter, judicial reform activists yesterday also complained about the draft. They said that, in addition to violating the Constitution and human rights, it would compromise the independence of prosecutors' investigation.
"It is understandable that there is a need to establish a special task force to investigate the case, because everybody wants to know the truth," said Kao Yung-cheng (
"But if the special task force has the authority to participate in the investigation process or order prosecutors about, that will be totally wrong," Kao said.
Kao made his remarks during a press conference at the National Bar Association yesterday morning.
According to the latest version of the statute, which was endorsed by lawmakers from across party lines, the special investigative task force will be established under the legislature and its members will be lawmakers from different parties. Judicial reform activists have expressed concern that task force members' authority to interfere in prosecutors' work could jeopardize the neutrality of the investigation.
Taipei Society chairman Hung Yu-hung (洪裕宏) said that the judiciary and legislature are parallel systems that should not be mixed up.
"It is definitely necessary to set up a third party, such as the special task force, to investigate the incident. And it is also definitely necessary that members of the special task force be authorized to conduct the necessary investigations and interrogations," Hung said.
"However, prosecutors's investigation must be neutral. That is the bottom line," he said.
Prosecutors' Reform Association (
"In Taiwan, we have come this far maintaining that spirit, so we should not quit at this moment just because of a special case like the [shooting] incident," Yang said.
"I believe that we prosecutors will be more than happy to provide our opinions and suggestions for lawmakers to come up with something else to replace the current proposal," Yang said.
Yang has been a controversial character since complaining about the crackdown on vote buying launched by Minister of the Interior Yu Chen-hsien (
Following his complaints, Yang was demoted from chief prosecutor in Hualien to a local prosecutor in Taitung.
The judicial reform activists said they plan to visit the Legislative Yuan today to continue to persuade lawmakers not to pass the statute.
Additional reporting by Debby Wu
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
WARNING: From Jan. 1 last year to the end of last month, 89 Taiwanese have gone missing or been detained in China, the MAC said, urging people to carefully consider travel to China Lax enforcement had made virtually moot regulations banning civil servants from making unauthorized visits to China, the Control Yuan said yesterday. Several agencies allowed personnel to travel to China after they submitted explanations for the trip written using artificial intelligence or provided no reason at all, the Control Yuan said in a statement, following an investigation headed by Control Yuan member Lin Wen-cheng (林文程). The probe identified 318 civil servants who traveled to China without permission in the past 10 years, but the true number could be close to 1,000, the Control Yuan said. The public employees investigated were not engaged in national
CAUSE AND EFFECT: China’s policies prompted the US to increase its presence in the Indo-Pacific, and Beijing should consider if this outcome is in its best interests, Lai said China has been escalating its military and political pressure on Taiwan for many years, but should reflect on this strategy and think about what is really in its best interest, President William Lai (賴清德) said. Lai made the remark in a YouTube interview with Mindi World News that was broadcast on Saturday, ahead of the first anniversary of his presidential inauguration tomorrow. The US has clearly stated that China is its biggest challenge and threat, with US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth repeatedly saying that the US should increase its forces in the Indo-Pacific region
ALL TOGETHER: Only by including Taiwan can the WHA fully exemplify its commitment to ‘One World for Health,’ the representative offices of eight nations in Taiwan said The representative offices in Taiwan of eight nations yesterday issued a joint statement reiterating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement with the WHO and for Taipei’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA). The joint statement came as Taiwan has not received an invitation to this year’s WHA, which started yesterday and runs until Tuesday next week. This year’s meeting of the decisionmaking body of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, would be the ninth consecutive year Taiwan has been excluded. The eight offices, which reaffirmed their support for Taiwan, are the British Office Taipei, the Australian Office Taipei, the
RSS