In the wake of the Investigation Bureau’s arrest of New Party spokesman Wang Ping-chung (王炳忠) on Tuesday, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Lin Wei-chou (林為洲) and John Wu (吳志揚) yesterday unveiled a draft amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法) aimed at granting witnesses the right to seek legal assistance while being questioned by prosecutors or investigators.
The draft amendment targets Article 175 of the act, which stipulates the rules to be followed by people if they are summoned by a law enforcement agency as a witness, but does not say they can request the presence of a lawyer when being questioned, the lawmakers said.
The article effectively denies witnesses the right to seek legal advice when being questioned, which is clearly a loophole and an infringement of their human rights, they said.
Photo: CNA
Wang was taken to the bureau for questioning for 18 hours, during which time his access to the rest of the world was cut off because he could not be accompanied by a lawyer, Lin said.
Wang was listed as a witness in an espionage case implicating former Chinese student Zhou Hongxu (周泓旭), but that he was questioned as a defendant showed that prosecutors and bureau officials were exploiting the loophole, he said.
“Never have witnesses been searched or arrested by warrant,” Lin said.
The existing act allows defendants to be accompanied by a lawyer when questioned, but denies that right to witnesses, effectively offering defendants more protection, which is unreasonable, he said.
Wu, a former lawyer, said the lack of legal protection for witnesses has long been a source of controversy in the legal sector, adding that other nations that follow the rule of law have long since banned law enforcers from questioning witnesses as they do suspects.
As the law requires a person under investigation to exercise their right to silence one question at a time, the draft amendment aims to grant witnesses the right to consult a lawyer as to whether they should remain silent on certain questions, thereby avoiding prosecutors or investigators forcefully eliciting information from witnesses, for example by threatening them with an indictment, he said.
The draft also stipulates that the entire questioning process should be recorded, a rule that only applies when questioning defendants, he said.
The draft also includes provisions that exempt relatives within a certain degree of consanguinity to a litigant and people obligated to maintain confidentiality for a company from being questioned, Wu said.
According to the draft bill, in cases where a person of interest could reveal information that would jeopardize national security or hurt the public interest, that person would also be exempted from questioning.
To avoid collusion, the draft bans witnesses from hiring the same lawyer or using the same law firm as the defendant.
It also bans more than one suspect sharing a lawyer or using the same law firm, as well as witnesses having their legal fees paid by another party, Wu said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it