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.
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
RSS