A judicial reform conference will not discuss amnesty for former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) or specific policies, such as abolishing the death penalty, organizing committee co-convener Chiu Hei-yuan (瞿海源) said on Monday after the committee’s fourth and final meeting.
The conference, scheduled to open on Monday, is to be divided into five groups to address protecting victims of crime and the underprivileged, establishing a fair and trustworthy judiciary, creating a highly efficient judicial system with accountability, promoting participation and transparency and building a system that maintains social order, he said.
Each of the five groups is to meet once every two weeks, and are scheduled to hold six meetings over a three-month period.
Chu said his committee solicited views from civic groups on what topics to cover and none of them brought up the abolition of capital punishment.
The main reason the death penalty is not on the agenda is because it would be inappropriate to discuss specific policies at the conference, Chu said.
Issues related to human rights, such as the rights of the victim of a murder, the family of the victim, and even the killer would be discussed in the group discussing human rights, he said.
On whether an amnesty for Chen would be discussed, Chu said it was stated clearly when the organizing committee was formed that isolated cases would not be discussed.
“Some said that bringing [former president] Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to justice is the most important judicial reform issue. That was an isolated case,” Chu said.
“The issue of amnesty will not be discussed at the conference,” Chu said, adding that the issue would be handled by the Presidential Office and the Ministry of Justice.
In her address to the organizing committee, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) asked conference participants to use “language that people can understand” when explaining their ideas.
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