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Judiciary urged to protect the rights of suspects, attorneys

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.
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