The Judicial Yuan yesterday said the Council of Grand Justices will hold three hearings on the pan-green caucuses' request for a temporary injunction against the March 19 Shooting Truth Investigation Special Committee Statute (三一九槍擊事件真相調查特別委員會條例).
The request for an injunction is part of the application for a constitutional interpretation of the statute that the caucuses filed on Sept. 15.
PHOTO: WANG YI-SONG, TAIPEI TIMES
The hearings will be held on Oct. 14, Oct. 27 and Oct. 29.
"We officially accepted the application on Sept. 15. Yesterday [Thursday], the Council of Grand Justices decided to hold three debates on the temporary injunction request and will do so according to the schedule that the grand justices came up with," said Fan Kuang-chun (范光群), secretary-general of the Judicial Yuan.
The Judicial Yuan also issued an official document to the legislature yesterday requesting the pan-green caucuses and the legislature send two representatives or one to three lawyers to participate in the hearings. It requested the names of the representatives by Tuesday.
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) said he would have the caucuses negotiate on the candidates on Monday.
The pan-green caucuses delivered their request for an injunction and a constitutional interpretation on Sept. 15, before the statute was even promulgated.
Yesterday, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus beefed up that request by delivering supplemental information -- a document elaborating on the basis for a temporary injunction, since the concept was borrowed from German law and there is no law here that would allow a temporary injunction on promulgated laws.
"The document lists five major reasons to back our case for a temporary injunction: first, the investigation committee is not limited in exercising its powers and this would seriously damage basic human rights," said DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (
"Second, the committee violates the constitutional principle of power separation. Third, the committee is trying to solve political disputes by criminal investigation, and this violates the country's basic legal order," he said.
"Fourth, the statute is unconstitutional and was badly written, so it is difficult for civil servants to follow the statute. Finally, if the grand justices don't impose a temporary injunction, it will be hard to undo the damage even if they declare the statute to be unconstitutional later on," he said.
DPP Legislator You Ching said that although the Grand Justices Judgment Law (大法官審理法) did not stipulate the possibility of temporary injunctions, Article 31 states that when the council reviews a case of whether or not a party has violated the Constitution, it can first suspend the party from some or all activities.
You said that it was constitutional to cite the article in the request for a temporary injunction.
But the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus said yesterday that the grand justices should not deal with the injunction separately from the appeal for a constitutional interpretation.
"Existing laws do not have any regulation regarding a temporary injunction. Article 31 of the Grand Justices Judgment Law does not give the justices the right to proceed with a debate on a temporary injunction," KMT caucus whip Huang Teh-fu (黃德福) said.
"The request for a temporary injunction is an additional appeal in the DPP's request for a constitutional interpretation, but if the grand justices deal with the temporary injunction separately, they would be doing something beyond their powers," Huang said.
Meanwhile, yesterday evening President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said yesterday he would not approve the list of committee mem-bers already selected by the pan-blue parties, saying that doing so would lead to constitutional disorder, given the controversy surrounding the statute's validity.
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