Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers have proposed a flurry of national security bills, including amendments that would abolish the statute of limitations for foreign espionage, and increase the maximum penalty for spying to death for military personnel and to life in prison for civilians.
The amendments propose changes to the National Security Act (國家安全), the Criminal Code of the Armed Forces (陸海空軍刑法), the Criminal Code, the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法) and the Trade Secrets Act (營業秘密法).
DPP Legislator Chao Tien-lin (趙天麟), one of the main sponsors of the amendments, motioned to send them to Legislative Yuan committees, which was approved.
Proposed amendments to the National Security Act would stipulate prison sentences of 10 years to life for people convicted of spying and three to 10 years for those who become involved by negligence, as well as reduced sentences or immunity for those who surrender voluntarily.
The amendments define espionage as the collecting, probing or transporting of confidential information, documents or objects on behalf of a foreign apparatus, or assisting it in a criminal enterprise.
The Criminal Code of the Armed Forces stipulates that active-duty personnel who commit espionage for the enemy or knowingly signal or otherwise communicate with the enemy should be sentenced to life in prison or death.
Chao’s proposed amendments would not change the penalty, but would remove the statute of limitations on the prosecution of such crimes.
The legislature on May 3 passed an amendment to abolish a 30-year statute of limitations on crimes that carry a penalty of more than 10 years in prison, capital offenses and those that result in one or more deaths, Chao said in his motion.
Such changes would apply to murder, child abuse that results in death and other serious crimes, but not to espionage, which poses an enormous risk to national security, he said.
The same standards should be applied to espionage-related offenses, he said.
Abolishing the statute of limitations would motivate prosecutors to pursue charges when appropriate and prevent guilty parties from evading punishment by exploiting prosecutorial negligence or remaining undiscovered, Chao said.
Abolishing the statute of limitations and increasing the penalties for spying would increase legal deterrence against espionage and enhance the nation’s counterintelligence efforts, he said.
DPP Legislator Ho Chih-wei (何志偉) yesterday said that most nations do not set a statute of limitations for prosecuting alleged spies, adding that the amendments have his unconditional support.
However, DPP Legislator Lai Jui-lung (何志偉) said that the proposed amendments should more clearly define the different types of offenses to avoid infringing on the principle of proportionality.
DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said that the caucus has accomplished its national security legislative agenda for now, but it remains open to good proposals from the party’s lawmakers, “insofar as they observe the proportionality principle.”
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