More than 20 district court judges yesterday closed ranks in a press conference to denounce Taipei Prosecutor-General Huang Shih-ming
After district court judges released KMT legislator and business tycoon Gary Wang
Huang publicly denied yesterday ever having uttered the words.
Judges had turned down a request from prosecutors to detain Wang on the grounds that evidence to hold him was insufficient.
Taipei District Court prosecutor Weng Hung-tsai (
Following an all-night hearing, however, the court ruled that Wang should be released on bail of NT$15 million.
The court ruling disappointed the prosecutors. Several evening newspapers on Saturday and daily newspapers the following day highlighted what they referred to as Huang and Weng's criticism of the court, such as "the judges dare not detain the rich and powerful," and "the judges do not cooperate in fighting black gold."
It was against this backdrop that the judges held their joint press conference yesterday.
They asked Huang and Weng to clarify their remarks.
"Such remarks are serious personal attacks against the judges," said a senior female judge.
"The court should be impartial. The independence of the judiciary and the discretion of the judges should be respected. The judges shouldn't detain the accused simply because prosecutors want them to do so," she said.
Prosecutors had listed five major reasons to petition for Wang's detention, including his alleged failure to give a satisfactory explanation of why a sum of NT$180 million paid by his Far Eastern Silo and Shipping (
The prosecutor suspected that the money was a kickback.
But the judge believed that there was not sufficient evidence indicating this was the case.
The judge who heard the petition to detain Wang stressed that detention is the final means of preserving evidence, the hasty use of which would cause serious harm to the accused before the trial.
Another judge said that although the crackdown on black gold was important, it must not override the protection of human rights.
"If the prosecutors say they can only combat black gold with our cooperation, aren't they asking us to keep one eye closed?" he asked.
Huang, on the other hand, attributed the disturbance to what he considered to be misquotations by the media.
He issued a statement yesterday morning and repeated his points to reporters in the afternoon on learning that the judges were to hold the press conference.
"I never accused the judge of being partial, nor made any remark about not daring to detain the rich ... This is the result of second-hand communication.
"I suggest that from now on only those who interview me may quote me."
He did not specify who he thought are responsible for the "second-hand communication."
Prosecutor Weng said he would make an appeal to the High Court against the district court ruling.
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