Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday criticized the Taipei District Court’s decision to change its presiding judge in cases concerning former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
In a meeting held among the court’s presiding judges late on Thursday night, a vote decided that Presiding Judge Tsai Shou-hsun (蔡守訓) would take over the Chen-related case from Presiding Judge Chou Chan-chun (周占春) because Tsai had previously handled cases concerning Chen.
POLITICAL INTERVENTION
Panning the move as “political intervention,” DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) yesterday said “the judiciary is doomed.”
DPP Legislator Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬) said that in an effort to avoid human manipulation, the courts had in recent years had to resort to using a computerized system designed to randomly select presiding judges.
“By deciding who shall be the presiding judge by a vote, we are now going backward and future judiciary trials will be filled with political elements,” he said.
PERTURBED
At a separate setting, Chen’s defense attorney Cheng Wen-lung (鄭文龍) yesterday said Chen was perturbed by the selection of Tsai as the presiding judge in his case.
“We do not care for how SIP [the Special Investigation Panel] is conducting itself. How can the court change the judges after the lots have already been openly cast? [By doing so,] the public confidence in the system will greatly decrease,” said Cheng, slamming the SIP for what he said was abuse of its authority.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅), on the other hand, questioned whether Tsai had the wherewithal to rule in Chen’s case.
“Over the past two years, Tsai Shou-shun has allowed [former first lady] Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) to be absent from 18 court proceedings. The case has been stalled for more than two years and wasted a lot of public resources,” Chiu said.
Chen was charged with corruption and money laundering, with prosecutors alleging he embezzled public funds and took bribes.
Thirteen other people were charged in connection with the case, including Chen’s wife, son and daughter-in-law.
CUSTODY
Chen was taken into custody on Nov. 12 and was charged with embezzling government funds and laundering money one month later. He was released without bail on Dec. 13 pending trial.
The SIP of the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office on Thursday launched a new bid to detain Chen by appealing again to the Taiwan High Court against the Taipei District Court’s Dec. 18 decision to release Chen without bail.
APPEAL
“We appeal on the grounds that [Chen Shui-bian] could flee the country, conspire with witnesses or destroy evidence,” SIP spokesman Chen Yun-nan (陳雲南) told reporters.
Cheng had criticized Thursday’s appeal and accused prosecutors of interfering with the trial procedure.
“We are going back and forth with the appeals. We hope prosecutors will stop thinking that they can only investigate cases by detaining people,” he said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JENNY W. HSU AND FLORA WANG
NO LIVERPOOL TRIP: Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who won a gold medal in the boxing at the Paris Olympics, was embroiled in controversy about her gender at that event Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) will not attend this year’s World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, England, due to a lack of response regarding her sex tests from the organizer, World Boxing. The national boxing association on Monday said that it had submitted all required tests to World Boxing, but had not received a response as of Monday, the departure day for the championships. It said the decision for Lin to skip the championships was made to protect its athletes, ensuring they would not travel to the UK without a guarantee of participation. Lin, who won a gold medal in the women’s 57kg boxing
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
The US has revoked Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) authorization to freely ship essential gear to its main Chinese chipmaking base, potentially curtailing its production capabilities at that older-generation facility. American officials recently informed TSMC of their decision to end the Taiwanese chipmaker’s so-called validated end user (VEU) status for its Nanjing site. The action mirrors steps the US took to revoke VEU designations for China facilities owned by Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc. The waivers are set to expire in about four months. “TSMC has received notification from the US Government that our VEU authorization for TSMC Nanjing
RSS