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The Legal Aid law passes first hurdle in Legislative Yuan

The legislature's Judiciary Committee finished reviewing the draft of the Legal Aid law (法律扶助法), under which the government will set up an NT$10 billion fund over a 10-year period to provide legal aid for people who can't afford a lawyer in a court case.

Also, to prevent prosecutors from filing reckless indictments against people, the bill stipulates that such authorities should pay for all legal expenses that stem from unsuccessful indictments.

The bill still needs to go through a second and third reading in the legislature before it can be signed into law.

According to the bill, the government-provided legal aid will include legal counseling and arbitration, the drafting of legal documents and a government-provided defense attorney in a lawsuit or arbitration case.

Only people with low incomes are eligible to apply for the legal aid.

The law doesn't just apply to Taiwanese nationals, but also to Chinese, Hong Kong and Macao nationals, as well as foreigners and stateless people, who have legal residency in Taiwan.

Despite strong opposition from the Ministry of Justice, legislators adopted the clause that will force prosecutors to pay the legal expenses of unsuccessful prosecutions.

Vice Minister of Justice Hsieh Wen-ting (謝文定) said the clause will put a lot of pressure on prosecutors and limit their efforts to crack down on crime. He said that such a situation would destabalize the nation's legal procedures.

Hsieh pointed out that no country has been able to ensure that all its prosecutors' indictments end in convictions.

Up to 89 percent of indictments end in convictions in Taiwan, compared with around 80 percent in Germany and Japan, Hsieh said.

Hsieh argued that it is unfair to put so much pressure on prosecutors. He said the new rule will force prosecutors to act in favor of the suspects and avoid indicting the suspects in most cases.

Recent amendments to the Law of Criminal Procedure have already decreased the number of indictment cases from several hundred per month to less than a hundred. This figure is expected to fall even more, as the new rule will demoralize prosecutors, Hsieh said.

Hsieh's argument, however, failed to convince legislators at yesterday's meeting.

Legislators led by the DPP's Chiu Tai-san (邱太三), a former prosecutor, insisted that the clause is crucial to protect people's human rights and to prevent prosecutors from filing reckless indictments.
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