Judicial Yuan President Rai Hau-min (賴浩敏) should resign to make way for new judicial reform efforts after Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) takes office, New Power Party (NPP) legislators said yesterday, accusing Rai of turning a deaf ear to civic groups.
“We hope that the president and vice president of the Judicial Yuan will resign in accordance with precedent to allow Tsai to decide what kind of president and vice president are most suited to handling judicial reforms,” party executive chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said, accusing Rai of failing to effectively initiate judicial reform efforts aimed at increasing civic participation in sentencing.
“The important reform policies they advocated when nominated have gone nowhere in six years,” Huang said of Rai’s advocacy of measures to allow civic observation of judicial reviews, accusing him of “brazenly rejecting” calls for juries or lay judges to be passed instead.
“Other than observation, citizens should have the right to participate or accompany judges in sentencing, rather than just expressing their views without having a vote,” he said.
The Judicial Yuan has said that giving citizens a sentencing vote could violate constitutional provisions investing judges with independent sentencing powers.
NPP caucus convener Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) said the previous Judicial Yuan president, Lai In-jaw (賴英照), offered to resign in 2008 following the election of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
Originally confirmed in 2007, he remained in office until 2010, when he resigned over a corruption scandal.
While Rai was unavailable for comment yesterday, an aide said he had already made up his mind after receiving similar advice, but was unwilling to be interviewed or comment to avoid unnecessary trouble.
Rai came under fire earlier this week from DPP Legislator Liu Chien-kuo (劉建國), who said that both Rai and Judicial Yuan Vice President Su Yeong-chin (蘇永欽) had overstayed their terms in office.
Rai and Su were nominated after Lai and former Judicial Yuan Vice President Hsieh Tsai-chuan (謝在全) resigned, so they should have only served out the remainder of Lai and Hsieh’s four-year terms, leaving office in 2011, Liu said.
The Judicial Yuan president and vice president also head the 15 member Council of Grand Justices, the nation’s highest judicial body, which is expected to play a crucial role in ruling on the constitutionality of expected legislation to appropriate the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) alleged ill-gotten party assets.
Additional reporting by Yang Kuo-wen and CNA
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