Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) yesterday attended a court hearing at the Taipei District Court over a 2013 wiretapping case, while Taiwanese independence groups protested outside, demanding that Ma be imprisoned over alleged abuses of power and illegal activities.
It was Ma’s second appearance as a defendant in the case since leaving office in May last year.
Ker, who filed the case, accused Ma of contravening the Criminal Code, the Communication Security and Surveillance Act (通訊監察保護法) and the Personal Information Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in connection with alleged wiretapping of telephone conversations between Ker and then-legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平).
Photo: CNA
Ma smiled but did not answer reporters’ questions when heading into the courtroom yesterday afternoon, escorted by security personnel.
The court also called former prosecutor-general Huang Shih-ming (黃世銘) and Lin Yu-chen (林有振), Ma’s personal secretary in 2013, for cross-examination.
“I call on Ma to stop his arguing and quibbling. He should have some dignity. If not, he will face judicial punishment and will certainly be judged by bianshi (鞭屍),” Ker told reporters, referring to a traditional Chinese punishment for disgraced dead political figures, whereby the corpse is exhumed and publicly flogged.
Ker said that the case is to “defend the nation’s constitutional system” and “rid the governance of a secret-police state.”
“Ma abused his authority and violated the Constitution. Prosecutor-general Huang conducted wiretapping on the Legislature. These actions cannot be tolerated in a democratic nation,” Ker said. “This is a litmus test for judicial reform.”
“In this case, Huang was found guilty last year, which means Ma should not escape prosecution,” he said.
The court hearing aimed to clarify a telephone call on Sept. 1, 2013, when Ma allegedly instructed Lin to call Huang and request a lunch meeting the following day, during which Huang allegedly told Ma confidential information from the wiretapping.
Outside the court, supporters of Taiwanese independence held a rally to demand that the judiciary charge Ma and sentence him to prison. About about 200 police officers were on site to control the crowd.
Taiwan Independence Party Chairman Huang Kuo-huang (黃國華) said the first step toward judicial reform is to prosecute Ma for his numerous illegal activities, manipulation of the justice system and abuses of power.
“Taiwanese will not accept a justice system that gives such leniency to Ma, who is an unscrupulous and corrupt politician. We see justice has not been served. Ma has broken the law many times and he must be imprisoned to serve time for his wrongdoings,” Huang said.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
RSS