The Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld a Taipei District Court ruling that found Taipei District Court Judge Chou Chan-chun (周占春) not guilty of negligence in making a witness’ name public.
Yesterday’s ruling is final.
The High Court’s ruling said that as prosecutors did not apply for the witness’ name to be withheld, Chou was under no obligation to do so.
In December last year, Chou and his secretary, Liu Lee-ying (劉麗英), were charged with malfeasance for alleged negligence in the disclosure of the name of a witness who was involved in an illegal drug production and transportation case heard by Chou, Taipei prosecutors said.
Chou and Liu were found to have failed to seal a classified document that had witnesses’ names in it. As a result, after a lawyer for the defendant in the case, surnamed Lu, read the document and told his client of the matter, the witness was beaten by the defendant, prosecutors said.
Chou was indicted a month after he became the target of some pan-blue political commentators when he cited insufficient evidence in the acquittal of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and his wife, Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍), on charges of laundering and taking bribes from bankers in exchange for manipulating bank mergers.
Last week, in a random drawing, the district court selected Chou and two other judges to co-hear a corruption case against former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), who has been accused of embezzling state funds.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
Travel agencies in Taiwan are working to secure alternative flights for travelers bound for New Zealand for the Lunar New Year holiday, as Air New Zealand workers are set to strike next week. The airline said that it has confirmed that the planned industrial action by its international wide-body cabin crew would go ahead on Thursday and Friday next week. While the Auckland-based carrier pledged to take reasonable measures to mitigate the impact of the workers’ strike, an Air New Zealand flight arriving at Taipei from Auckland on Thursday and another flight departing from Taipei for Auckland on Saturday would have to
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that