The detention of Taiwanese actor and pop idol Kai Ko (柯震東) by the Chinese police without informing his family and Taiwanese authorities within 24 hours and the airing of footage showing Ko apologizing in the detention center have been criticized as human rights violations and a manifestation of the failure of the related cross-strait agreements.
Ko was shown in a “confession video” publicly broadcast by China Central Television (CCTV) crying and apologizing in the detention center.
His detention and arrest had been unknown to his family, agent and Taiwanese authorities for at least five days.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday called on the government to demand that Chinese authorities protect Ko’s right to proper legal process according to the signed cross-strait agreements on mutual legal assistance.
DPP spokesperson Huang Di-ying (黃帝穎), a lawyer, said there are at least three major violations against human rights in Chinese authorities’ investigation of Ko’s case.
The first is that Ko has been detained for too long and his personal freedom has been restricted, Huang said, while the Chinese government has failed to comply with the Agreement on Jointly Cracking Down on Crime and Mutual Legal Assistance Across the Strait and the Cross-Strait Bilateral Investment Protection and Promotion Agreement, which require authorities to immediately notify their cross-strait counterparts when a national has been detained.
Huang said that Ko has also not been allowed access to a lawyer, which violates the defendant’s right to legal defense.
The third violation is handing footage of Ko’s “confession” to the media, “turning the case into a show trial, which is similar to a terrorist group’s footage, and which is extremely humiliating and aims to trample human dignity,” he said.
According to the Central News Agency (CNA), the Straits Exchange Foundation said it phoned China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits yesterday to ask the association “to pass the word to the related agencies” about their concern over Ko’s rights.
The CNA then quoted “a person who is familiar with cross-strait affairs” as saying that there was “nothing inappropriate” in the Chinese government’s handling of the matter.
The anonymous person said that although the agreement on mutual legal assistance requires the Chinese authorities to notify Taiwan when a Taiwanese national’s personal freedom has been restricted, “the agreement targets only criminal offenses. Ko’s administrative detention is therefore not covered by the agreement.”
And while the bilateral investment protection agreement requires notice within 24 hours, only investors and related personnel are protected by the agreement, and “if Ko has been categorized by the Chinese as an artist, he would not be included in the said accord,” CNA quoted the source as saying.
Democratic Front Against the Cross-strait Trade in Services Agreement convener Lai Chung-chiang (賴中強) rebutted the interpretation, saying that the agreement applies to anyone with restricted personal freedom, regardless of the type of detention.
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