The Council of Grand Justices yesterday announced Constitutional Interpretation No. 654 and said that Detention Act (羈押法) regulations that require meetings between a detained defendant and a lawyer to be supervised are unconstitutional. The interpretation also says that information gained from the recordings of such a meetings shall no longer be admissible as evidence after May 1.
The issue of lawyer-client confidentiality for detained suspects has been the subject of much controversy following the recent detention of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) on charges of money laundering and embezzlement, with the regulations attracting criticism from home and abroad.
On Jan. 8, New York University professor and Asian law expert Jerome Cohen criticized the measures in a piece in the South China Morning Post. Yesterday’s ruling came in response to a request from Mai An-huai (麥安懷), the former chief of staff of Taipei County Government Commissioner Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋), who was previously detained on suspicion of corruption.
Mai felt that the supervision and recording of his meetings with his lawyer were an infringement of his right to a defense. He requested a constitutional interpretation of articles 23 and 28 of the Detention Act. Both articles were ruled unconstitutional by the Council of Grand Justices.
Article 23 says: “A person who applies to grant a visitation with a defendant, shall state clearly their full name, occupation, age, residential address, the main content of the interview, the name of the defendant and the relationship with the defendant. Officials at the detention house shall supervise the visitation when it is granted.”
The interpretation says that paragraph 3 of Article 23, which allows the supervision and recording of meetings between a detainee and a lawyer regardless of the circumstances, and Article 28 were unconstitutional.
Article 28 says: “If the content of the speeches, conduct and sent and received mail of a defendant can provide information for the criminal investigation and trial, they shall be reported to the public prosecutor or the district court.”
In the interpretation, the Council of Grand Justices said that Article 23, Paragraph 3 and Article 28 would no longer be valid after May 1.
Judicial Yuan Secretary-General Hsieh Wen-ting (謝文定) said the interpretation protected the public’s litigation rights and did not conflict with efforts to maintain order and security in detention centers.
Hsieh said the current modus operandi is only to supervise and record meetings between lawyers and detainees who are being held incommunicado.
PROVOCATIVE: Chinese Deputy Ambassador to the UN Sun Lei accused Japan of sending military vessels to deliberately provoke tensions in the Taiwan Strait China denounced remarks by Japan and the EU about the South China Sea at a UN Security Council meeting on Monday, and accused Tokyo of provocative behavior in the Taiwan Strait and planning military expansion. Ayano Kunimitsu, a Japanese vice foreign minister, told the Council meeting on maritime security that Tokyo was seriously concerned about the situation in the East China and South China seas, and reiterated Japan’s opposition to any attempt to change the “status quo” by force, and obstruction of freedom of navigation and overflight. Stavros Lambrinidis, head of the EU delegation to the UN, also highlighted South China Sea
The final batch of 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks purchased from the US arrived at Taipei Port last night and were transported to the Armor Training Command in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), completing the military’s multi-year procurement of 108 of the tanks. Starting at 12:10am today, reporters observed more than a dozen civilian flatbed trailers departing from Taipei Port, each carrying an M1A2T tank covered with black waterproof tarps. Escorted by military vehicles, the convoy traveled via the West Coast Expressway to the Armor Training Command, with police implementing traffic control. The army operates about 1,000 tanks, including CM-11 Brave Tiger
China on Wednesday teased in a video an aircraft carrier that could be its fourth, and the first using nuclear power, while making an allusion to Taiwan and vowing to further build up its islands, as it looks to boost maritime power, secure resources and bolster territorial claims. The video, issued on the eve of the 77th founding anniversary of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy, featured fictional officers with names that are homophones of three commissioned aircraft carriers, the Liaoning (遼寧), Shandong (山東) and Fujian (福建). Titled Into the Deep, it showed a 19-year-old named “Hejian” (何劍) joining the group, sparking
BIG YEAR: The company said it would also release its A12 chip the same year to keep a ‘reliable stream of new silicon technologies’ flowing to its customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said its newest A13 chip is to enter volume production in 2029 as the chipmaker seeks to hold onto its tech leadership and demand for next-generation chips used in artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance-computing (HPC) and mobile applications. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, also unveiled its A12 chip at its annual technology symposium in Santa Clara, California. The A12 chip, which features TSMC’s super-power-rail technology to provide backside power delivery for AI and HPC applications, is also to enter volume production in 2029, a year after the scheduled release of the A14 chip. The technology moves
RSS