Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (陳定南) told the Legislative Yuan yesterday that members of Taiwan's media have been abusing their press freedoms.
Chen made the comments during an interpellation session at the legislature yesterday, in which lawmakers across party lines inquired about a recent search of the China Times Express' newsroom by Taipei district prosecutors.
Chen denied that the search had violated freedom of the press.
He also said he disagreed that government departments are given too much latitude when it comes to deciding what constitutes a government secret, and that the search of the Chinese-language daily's newsroom was within government limits.
"What the China Times Express published were transcripts of a criminal investigation, which according to the Code of Criminal Procedure should not be made public.
"Freedom of the press should not be used as an excuse for violation of the law," he said.
The China Times Express on Sept. 30 published excerpts from three interrogation transcripts related to an embezzlement investigation into National Security Bureau chief cashier Liu Kuan-chun (劉冠軍).
Prosecutors searched the newspaper's newsroom and two reporters' homes on Oct. 3 after reporters turned down requests to hand over the documents and identify the source of the leaked information.
Chen said that prosecutors were pursuing public officials who leaked the secret information, and that prosecutors believed the leaked documents could be found at the sites they searched.
Also, Chen said, prosecutors could not rule out the possibility that the reporters may have been accomplices.
Many legislators said yesterday that the prosecutors' power of search and seizure should be stripped and transferred to the court, but Chen disagreed.
According to the law, prosecutors and judges have the power to issue search warrants to empower others or themselves to conduct searches (in which case a warrant is not required.)
"Now the only weapons the prosecutors can use to fight crimes are these two clauses [search and seizure]," Chen said.
A revision of the Code of Criminal Procedure in 1997 took away the power to detain suspects from prosecutors.
The amendment followed a Council of Grand Justices' ruling two years earlier that said it was unconstitutional for prosecutors to detain suspects on their own accord.
In response to the China Times Express search, at least three groups of legislators have proposed amendments that would deny prosecutors the ability to conduct searches without a court order.
Chen said that if prosecutors are stripped of this power and forced to wait for court approval, searches might be delayed and efforts in cracking down on "black gold" hampered.
But many lawmakers disagreed with Chen's objections. Lee Ching-hsiung (
Chen, however, warned that both judges and prosecutors have misused their powers in the past, and that reducing only the power of prosecutors would still leave judges in a position to abuse their power.
CHAOS: Iranians took to the streets playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei’s death on Saturday, while mourners also gathered in Tehran yesterday Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the US, throwing the future of the Islamic republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability. Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency announced the 86-year-old’s death early yesterday. US President Donald Trump said it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country. The announcements came after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue through the week or as long
TRUST: The KMT said it respected the US’ timing and considerations, and hoped it would continue to honor its commitments to helping Taiwan bolster its defenses and deterrence US President Donald Trump is delaying a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Taiwan to ensure his visit to Beijing is successful, a New York Times report said. The weapons sales package has stalled in the US Department of State, the report said, citing US officials it did not identify. The White House has told agencies not to push forward ahead of Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), it said. The two last month held a phone call to discuss trade and geopolitical flashpoints ahead of the summit. Xi raised the Taiwan issue and urged the US to handle arms sales to
BIG SPENDERS: Foreign investors bought the most Taiwan equities since 2005, signaling confidence that an AI boom would continue to benefit chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) market capitalization swelled to US$2 trillion for the first time following a 4.25 percent rally in its American depositary receipts (ADR) overnight, putting the world’s biggest contract chipmaker sixth on the list of the world’s biggest companies by market capitalization, just behind Amazon.com Inc. The site CompaniesMarketcap.com ranked TSMC ahead of Saudi Aramco and Meta Platforms Inc. The Taiwanese company’s ADRs on Tuesday surged to US$385.75 on the New York Stock Exchange, as strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications led to chip supply constraints and boost revenue growth to record-breaking levels. Each TSMC ADR represents
Pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai’s (黎智英) fraud conviction and prison sentence were yesterday overturned by a Hong Kong court, in a surprise legal decision that comes soon after Lai was jailed for 20 years on a separate national security charge. Judges Jeremy Poon (潘兆初), Anthea Pang (彭寶琴) and Derek Pang (彭偉昌) said in the judgement that they allowed the appeal from Lai, and another defendant in the case, to proceed, as a lower court judge had “erred.” “The Court of Appeal gave them leave to appeal against their conviction, allowed their appeals, quashed the convictions and set aside the sentences,” the judges
RSS