Several judicial reform activists yesterday called on the judiciary to protect the legal rights of attorneys, detained suspects and convicts as guaranteed in the Constitution.
“At a time when society is highly polarized between pan-blue and pan-green, between those who support [former president] Chen Shui-bian [陳水扁] and those who are against him, we need a rational and independent judiciary that looks after everyone’s rights and brings hope to the society,” Taiwan Bar Association (TWBA) chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄) told a press conference. “The judicial system has yet to pass that test.”
While many have long questioned the human rights record of the judicial system, recent cases had helped to bring the “dark side” under the spotlight, he said.
Chen’s attorney, Cheng Wen-lung (鄭文龍), is now under investigation as the Ministry of Justice suspects that he may have leaked details of ongoing cases when delivering messages from Chen to the public after visiting the former president in detention.
Cheng said that he was accompanied by two prosecutor’s aides each time he met Chen and that the aides would “remind” him when he might have said something inappropriate. He said all his conversations with Chen were recorded and videotaped.
Attorneys representing other suspects and defendants involved in Chen’s alleged cases of embezzlement and accepting brides have also complained about the procedure.
“A meeting between a suspect or defendant and his or her attorney can of course be watched, but no one should be listening to it, recording it or handing those recordings to prosecutors,” Koo said.
Lo Ping-cheng (羅秉成), convener of the Alliance for Human Rights in Criminal Cases, agreed.
“The Detention Law [羇押法] stipulates that a meeting between a detained individual and an attorney may be ‘watched.’ Obviously, having someone listen in and even record the conversation is unlawful,” Lo said. “What happened in Chen’s case is not an isolated one. This unlawful practice has, in fact, long been in existence.”
“Instead of launching an investigation of lawyers over leaks of details of ongoing cases, the judiciary should launch an investigation into the prosecutors to try to find out how the media is able to get so much detailed information on ongoing cases,” Judicial Reform Foundation executive director Lin Feng-jeng (林峰正) said.
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. The single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 400,000 and 800,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, saber-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. A single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 800,000 to 400,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, sabre-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Whether Japan would help defend Taiwan in case of a cross-strait conflict would depend on the US and the extent to which Japan would be allowed to act under the US-Japan Security Treaty, former Japanese minister of defense Satoshi Morimoto said. As China has not given up on the idea of invading Taiwan by force, to what extent Japan could support US military action would hinge on Washington’s intention and its negotiation with Tokyo, Morimoto said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday. There has to be sufficient mutual recognition of how Japan could provide
UPDATED TEST: The new rules aim to assess drivers’ awareness of risky behaviors and how they respond under certain circumstances, the Highway Bureau said Driver’s license applicants who fail to yield to pedestrians at intersections or to check blind spots, or omit pointing-and-calling procedures would fail the driving test, the Highway Bureau said yesterday. The change is set to be implemented at the end of the month, and is part of the bureau’s reform of the driving portion of the test, which has been criticized for failing to assess whether drivers can operate vehicles safely. Sedan drivers would be tested regarding yielding to pedestrians and turning their heads to check blind spots, while drivers of large vehicles would be tested on their familiarity with pointing-and-calling
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