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Justice officials say certain trials will be online next year

Ministry of Justice and Judicial Yuan officials said yesterday that, starting next year, meetings between inmates and their families -- and even trials and hearings -- will have the option of being held online.

The officials said that Internet conferencing will save travel time for judges, prosecutors and inmates and will therefore decrease the opportunities for inmates to escape.

"This is a new adventure for us," said President of the Judicial Yuan Weng Yueh-sheng (翁岳生). "For everybody, the new technology will make their jobs easier because it will shorten the distance between each other.

"For example, prosecutors and judges in the north can use this `Net meeting' system to investigate and question inmates who are jailed in the south. Since neither officials or inmates will have to travel, they will not have to worry about tiresome trips. Guards will not have to worry about potential escapes, either," he said.

Weng said the Internet conferences will therefore allow trials to be held in cyberspace.

"To have an online trial, judges or prosecutors just need to get online to register for a court date and notify witnesses to report to the nearest prosecutors' office or courts. ... After the trial, the law clerks will e-mail the case report to the offices or courts where the witnesses and inmates are, for their signatures, and then they will fax the case report to the locations where the judges and prosecutors are when the signature has been submitted."

Vice Minister of Justice Yen Da-ho (顏大和) said the new system will be launched Jan. 2 and will first be established in the Taiwan High Court, the Taipei, Shihlin, Panchiao, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung and Taitung district courts, the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office and the Taipei, Tainan, Kaohsiung and Taitung prisons.

Yen said that the "Net meeting" system will benefit inmates' families as well. Relatives of inmates who do not have the time to travel will still be able to see their loved ones.
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