The Ministry of Justice yesterday said that in addition to judges, prosecutors are also supposed be protected by the "Judge Law", a new law which is being organized by the Judicial Yuan.
The proposed law is aimed at protecting judges and ensuring that they can enforce the law and carry out their duties without any kind of pressure, no matter what the circumstances. The proposed law would also clearly regulate the obligations and rules of the job and the recruitment of judges.
"A lawsuit usually begins from prosecutors' investigation. In a criminal case, if a prosecutor does not indict the suspect, a judge will not have a case to preside over," said Prosecutorial Affairs Department Director Tsai Pi-yu (
"As a result, prosecutors should be protected by the same law and I strongly suggest having prosecutors covered by the new law," Tsai said.
Several judges and lawyers have also emphasized the importance of the proposed law.
Attorney Hsu Wen-bin (
Hsu was Hsinchu City mayor Tsai Jen-chien's (蔡仁堅) legal consultant when Tsai was investigated by prosecutors for his involvement in the Chu Mei-feng's (璩美鳳) sex-VCD case. He is also one of the defense counsels in the Hsichih trio case.
"Judicial Yuan officials should speed up their work on the `judge law' and send it to the Legislative Yuan as soon as possible," Hsu said. "We need a manual to define and protect a judge's work and we can take advantage of such a manual to punish those lazy judges who do not do their jobs well."
Hsu's remarks were echoed by Taiwan High Court Presiding Judge Tsai Jiung-tun (
Tsai presided over the defamation case between former president Lee Teng-hui's (李登輝) wife Tseng Wen-hui (曾文惠) and former New Party lawmakers Elmer Feng (馮滬祥), Hsieh Chi-ta (謝啟大) and the New Party's Chinese Affairs Commission member Tai Chi (戴錡).
Tsai said there is a need for a well-organized means to ensure that police have no obstacles to carrying out their duties, to help officials recruit better judges or prosecutors and retire or punish those who do not perform well.
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