A bill aimed at expediting the prosecution of criminal cases passed the Legislative Yuan yesterday, a measure lawmakers hope will prevent trials and appeals from dragging on for more than a decade, as has sometimes been the case.
Currently Taiwanese courts can lock up indefinitely those accused of serious offenses that carry a minimum 10-year jail term. Those suspected of less serious offenses can be held for 23 months.
Under the new Speedy Criminal Trials Act (刑事妥速審判法), which was passed with the support of both the governing and opposition parties, a maximum eight-year detention period will be imposed for those charged with felonies such as murder and corruption.
The new act stipulates that if a case spends eight years in the courts without a final resolution, the defendant will be released if he or she was found not guilty in the most recent court ruling, or be allowed to file for commutation of the sentence if found guilty at that point in the process.
The new statute will also prohibit prosecutors from appealing a case to the Supreme Court if the defendant is found not guilty in the first and second trial of a felony case unless the ruling cited by judges in a district court or the High Court has serious technical flaws that contradict the Constitution, interpretations of the Judicial Yuan or precedents.
The law will become binding two years after it is promulgated by the president, to give the judiciary system time to prepare for it.
The move came amid a controversy over former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) high-profile corruption case, which has seen him behind bars for more than 500 days.
Some legal experts have criticized the overall handling of Chen’s case, particularly his lengthy detention. The High Court last week ruled that Chen should be held for another two months while appealing against his life sentence after being convicted of graft.
The legislature yesterday also passed a resolution calling on the Executive Yuan to establish a national forensic institution to facilitate criminal investigations.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑), convener of the legislative Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee, yesterday said he hoped the new law would prevent the Supreme Court from repeatedly remanding cases back to lower courts because of indecision or minor flaws and stop prosecutors from filing endless appeals of not guilty verdicts.
Judiciary Yuan official Lin Chun-yi (林俊益) said there are currently 30 defendants who have been detained for more than five years as their cases make their way through the court system.
He said the judiciary would try to close their cases within the next two years before the new statute takes effect.
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