President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on Saturday said he hoped that in future prosecutors would use computer screens to allow suspects being questioned to read the transcripts of the questioning in an effort to tackle the problem of misinterpretations.
Ma made the remarks at a Lawyer’s Day celebration at the Taiwan Bar Association. Minister of Justice Wang Ching-feng (王清峰), Taiwan Bar Association chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄) and Judicial Yuan President Lai In-jaw (賴英照) were all present at the event.
In a speech to members of the association, Ma commended it for promoting lawyers’ re-commitment to ethical behavior and its emphasis on integrity.
He also said that his experiences two years ago in a case relating to his handling of special funds allowed him to realize that many improvements needed to be implemented in the judicial system.
Ma said he has instructed the minister of justice to require prosecutors to display on a computer screen a word-by-word transcript of the questioning, so that the defendant can clear up any misunderstandings.
Ma’s comments came after the Taipei District Court rejected his request two weeks ago to overturn a decision by prosecutors not to indict Special Investigation Panel prosecutor Hou Kuan-jen (侯寬仁).
In June, Ma filed a letter of committal asking the court to instruct prosecutors to indict Hou on forgery charges after they rejected an earlier request filed by Ma’s lawyer.
Hou was one of the prosecutors investigating Ma’s handling of his special allowance funds when he was Taipei mayor, minister of justice, vice chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council, among other posts.
Last year, Ma had asked the court to remove three prosecutors from his cases, citing “bias.”
He also accused Hou of falsely documenting his questioning of a witness in the case.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
A fugitive in a suspected cosmetic surgery fraud case today returned to Taiwan from Canada, after being wanted for six years. Internet celebrity Su Chen-tuan (蘇陳端), known as Lady Nai Nai (貴婦奈奈), and her former boyfriend, plastic surgeon Paul Huang (黃博健), allegedly defrauded clients and friends of about NT$1 billion (US$30.66 million). Su was put on a wanted list in 2019 when she lived in Toronto, Canada, after failing to respond to subpoenas and arrest warrants from the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. Su arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 5am today on an EVA Air flight accompanied by a
RSS