President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday touted his administration’s efforts to protect the human rights of criminal suspects.
Ma said that since he took office, he has signed two UN conventions and the legislature passed the Speedy Criminal Trials Act (刑事妥速審判法) last month. Although the new piece of legislation is still controversial, it marked a milestone in the country’s judicial history, he said.
“Justice delayed is justice denied,” he said.
The law aims to expedite the prosecution of criminal cases to prevent trials and appeals from dragging on for more than a decade, as has sometimes been the case.
The Ministry of Justice is also examining the Detention Act (羈押法) to see whether it is possible to further protect the human rights of detainees, he said, and the Executive Yuan yesterday also approved a draft law that would protect the rights of judges as well as evaluate their performance.
Ma made the remarks when meeting Jerome Cohen, co-director of the US-Asia Law Institute at New York University’s School of Law, at the Presidential Office yesterday.
Cohen, who taught Ma law at Harvard University, said he first visited Taiwan in 1961 and has seen dramatic changes over the past 50 years.
“The Taiwanese government and Taiwanese people have made tremendous progress and contribution to the improvement of human rights,” he said in Mandarin Chinese. “When I visit the mainland next time, I will tell them the newest development.”
Cohen said the US would benefit from learning Taiwan’s judicial system and rule of law and should understand that Taiwan has improved greatly in terms of human rights and democracy since 1987.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
Ferry operators are planning to provide a total of 1,429 journeys between Taiwan proper and its offshore islands to meet increased travel demand during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, the Maritime and Port Bureau said yesterday. The available number of ferry journeys on eight routes from Saturday next week to Feb. 2 is expected to meet a maximum transport capacity of 289,414 passengers, the bureau said in a news release. Meanwhile, a total of 396 journeys on the "small three links," which are direct ferries connecting Taiwan's Kinmen and Lienchiang counties with China's Fujian Province, are also being planned to accommodate
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) yesterday authorized the execution of convicted murderer Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), the first death row prisoner to be put to death since President William Lai (賴清德) took office. Huang was to be executed via a firing squad yesterday evening, which would leave Taiwan with 36 convicts on death row. Huang on Oct. 1, 2013, broke into his ex-girlfriend Wang Ping-chih’s (王品智) residence in New Taipei City, where he raped and murdered Wang. He also killed Wang’s mother. Huang was bitter over the breakup and her accusation that he had stolen NT$200,000 (US$6,074) from her bank account, prosecutors said
RSS