Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (
The remarks sparked criticism from prosecutors and academics.
Chen later altered his words but still failed to calm the voices of opposition. Critics said such a measure, if implemented, would seriously discourage prosecutors in their battle against crime.
Chen made the remarks in a breakfast meeting with cross-party lawmakers from the group New Taiwan Political Alliance (
They said that prosecutors must shoulder the responsibility when people are wrongly indicted.
Chen responded that in future prosecutors may be held responsible if the Supreme Court acquits defendants they indicted or if they cited the wrong legal articles when making the indictments.
Albert Tsai (蔡秋明), a divisional head prosecutor at Panchiao District Prosecutors' Office, said such measures would be inappropriate.
"The criteria according to which a prosecutor can indict, and a judge can convict a person, are different. A prosecutor can indict when there is criminal suspicion, while a conviction must be beyond reasonable doubt," Tsai said. "Prosecutors would become too strict [about evidence] and too discouraged from indicting suspects if they risked being held responsible just because the Supreme Court acquitted the defendants."
Besides, Tsai said, evidence and the cases themselves may change during the investigation and trial. For example, he said, in some disputes the complainants and the accused may reach a settlement after the indictment.
He stressed that the courts could also make mistakes and that an acquittal did not necessarily imply the innocence of the defendant or any error on the part of the prosecution.
He said it might be less unacceptable if the justice ministry set some standards -- other than acquittal by the Supreme Court -- to judge whether the prosecutors had abused their powers in making indictments. However, he also said such standards were extremely hard to set.
Tsai's comments came before the ministry issued a press release to backtrack on Chen's words in the afternoon. The press release said that Chen did not mean that in all cases of Supreme Court acquittals the indicting prosecutors should be investigated.
The press statement said that this would only be necessary when "there are serious procedural flaws and obvious incorrect citations of laws which cause grave harm to the rights of the defendants."
The statement said that there had not been enough time for Chen to go into specifics when meeting with the legislators in the morning.
Certain questions remained unanswered, however.
"In what circumstances, then, would an investigation be launched?" asked Chen Jui-jen (
"If it were the former, it would add tremendously to the workload of both investigators and the investigated."
Chen said there were already effective mechanisms in place preventing prosecutors from abusing powers.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)