About 74 military prisoners and detainees are to be sent from a military prison in Greater Tainan to civilian prisons today as about 450 military criminal cases are transferred to civilian courts, marking the end of operations for the military judiciary in peacetime.
The transferal of military jurisdiction to civilian systems has been carried out in two stages after an amendment to the Code of Court Martial Procedure (軍事審判法) was passed by the legislature in August last year and put into effect in the same month.
The first stage took place on Aug. 16 last year. A total of 259 military prisoners and detainees were sent from Tainan’s military prison — the last military prison in operation — to 11 civilian prisons across the country, and hundreds of military criminal cases were transferred to civilian courts.
The Ministry of Justice yesterday said the second stage of the transfers would take place this morning. The remaining 74 military prisoners and detainees are to be transferred from the military prison to the Tainan Prison and Tainan Detention Center under the escort of military and local police.
The military prison is also to be handed over to the Ministry of Justice, the ministry said.
About 450 military cases are being transferred as well, the ministry said, including some cases that have drawn public attention, such as the case of Justin Lin (林毅夫), Liu Kuan-chun (劉冠軍), Emily Yeh (葉玫) and others.
The ministry said Lin, who defected to China in 1979 and later became a vice president at the World Bank, would remain a fugitive wanted on treason charges after the transfer and his prosecution has not even begun.
Liu, former chief of the payments section of the National Security Bureau, has been on the run since 2000 after being accused of having embezzled NT$190 million (US$6.3 million at current exchange rates) from secret bureau funds.
Yeh, a lieutenant with the Military Intelligence Bureau who fled the country and has been arrested in the UK, has been listed as a fugitive on Taiwan’s wanted list and the maximum sentence for her alleged desertion is five years. Yeh currently is detained at an immigration center in Bedfordshire, England, where she is awaiting deportation for staying in the country illegally.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2