The mistaken arrest of the wrong man in a murder case demonstrates how the police disregard human rights in handling investigations, critics said yesterday.
Chen Jung-chi (
After being detained for three days, Chen was released on Monday night when police found out that he could not have been at the scene of the crime.
"The case reveals fatal flaws in the investigation process," said Sun Yi-hsin (孫一信), deputy secretary-general of the Association for Persons With Intellectual Disabilities.
"Either the police or prosecutors failed to abide by regulations concerning the protection of handicapped people's human rights," he said.
Article 31 of the Criminal Procedure Law (
"Police and prosecutors evidently violated the regulations [in Chen's case]," Sun said at a press conference held by Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Jung-chang (
Hung Chieh-su (
"I felt sad that I couldn't help him [Chen] when he was in need of help," Hung said.
"He has a language disability and is unable to express himself well," she said.
Wang urged the police and prosecutors to implement regulations and measures to protect the handicapped so that the mistake does not get repeated.
At a separate setting yesterday, Premier Su Tseng-chang (
"Honestly, the police should admit they made a mistake and apologize," Su said.
"I must say, however, that their hard work on the case should also be recognized. Nonetheless, I would ask the police not to repeat their mistake in the future," he said.
Su did not elaborate on the potential punishment for police personnel involved in Chen's mistaken arrest.
"I would ask the police to launch an internal investigation on the issue," he said.
"I think that the high-ranking police officials should come up with the appropriate measures," he said.
Additional reporting by Jimmy Chuang
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
A 23-year-old Taichung man vowed to drink more water after his heavy consumption of sugary tea landed him in hospital with a kidney infection and sepsis. The man, surnamed Lin (林), used to drink two cups of half-sugar oolong tea while working at a food stall, where he often had to wait a long time before urinating. Lin developed kidney stones and noticed blood in his urine, but ignored the issue after taking medication for three days. A month later, he went to the emergency room after experiencing a recurring fever and was diagnosed with a kidney infection that led to sepsis, landing
RSS