The Ministry of Justice yesterday said that former World Bank vice president Justin Lin (林毅夫), who defected to China in 1979 by swimming from Kinmen to China’s Fujian Province, was still a fugitive wanted on treason charges by the Kinmen branch of the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office.
Lin’s case is being handled by the prosecutors’ office, after the military’s court-martial system was supplanted by the criminal justice system yesterday, the ministry said.
Lin’s case was among the more than 400 cases transferred from military’s jurisdiction to the civilian judicial system yesterday, the ministry added.
The ministry said 74 military prisoners and detainees were sent from a military prison in Greater Tainan to civilian prisons yesterday, as 298 military criminal cases under investigations are transferred to civilian prosecutors’ offices.
Meanwhile, the Judicial Yuan said 157 cases with a total of 167 defendants were transferred from military courts to civilian courts yesterday.
The transferal of military jurisdiction to civilian systems has been carried out in two stages after an amendment to the Code of Court Martial Procedure (軍事審判法) was passed by the legislature in August last year.
The push to overhaul the court martial system was prompted by the death of army corporal Hung Chung-chiu (洪仲丘) on July 4 last year following a series of alleged irregularities, disregard for military rules and procedures, and abuses of power.
Under the revised court-martial code, all service personnel will be subject to the civilian justice system during peacetime.
The first stage took place on Aug. 16 last year. A total of 259 military prisoners and detainees were sent from a military prison in Greater Tainan to 11 civilian prisons, and hundreds of military criminal cases were transferred to civilian courts.
The second stage took place yesterday, marking the end of operations for the military judiciary in peacetime.
Additional reporting by CNA
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