New Party Youth Corps spokesman Wang Ping-chung (王炳忠) has broken the law by live broadcasting a search of his house conducted by law enforcement officers, top justice officials and legal experts said.
Wang on Tuesday live streamed Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau officers as they tried to enter his residence.
The law prohibits any live broadcasting of judicial action, Minister of Justice Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) said yesterday.
Photo: Wen Yu-te, Taipei Times
“During a judicial probe, it is necessary to maintain the confidentiality of a case under investigation. However, the live broadcast revealed information relating to the case to the public,” Chiu said.
“Live broadcasting is different from taking photographs, which are used to preserve a scene. The photographs are not disclosed to the public,” Chiu said.
“Live broadcasting provides information directly to the public, so this action has contravened the principle of maintaining confidentiality and is therefore not permitted by law,” he said.
“Maybe Wang’s live broadcast was an attempt to inform his colleagues that he was being searched; a warning that they should flee,” political commentator Yao Li-ming (姚立明) said yesterday.
Wang’s action might constitute a leak of classified information of an ongoing judicial investigation, collusion with others to conceal evidence, or an obstruction of law enforcement officers, Yao said.
Leaking classified information is punishable with a maximum of three years in prison, lawyer Chao Wen-ming (趙文銘) said.
When Wang refused to open the door to police, the investigation had not yet started, so the live broadcast did not breach the law, Chao said.
“However, when police and officials entered the apartment and showed search warrants, Wang continued the live broadcast,” he added.
If Wang did not cooperate with law enforcement officers and threatened or reacted physically, then prosecutors could charge Wang for obstructing officers, Chao said.
Wang has accused officials of breaking the law by not allowing his lawyer to enter his apartment during the search, Chao said.
“If a case is under investigation, officials can seal off a location under investigation and prevent lawyers from entering the area,” he said. “It is only during a trial hearing that the law requires the presence of a lawyer. These are two different situations, so Wang is mistaken.”
The methods used are not so different from other cases under investigation, lawyer Dennis Lei (雷皓明) said.
“Under the Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法), people are usually arrested by warrant if they fail to show up after being summoned,” Lei said, adding that a law enforcement agency usually issues a subpoena at least 24 hours before a person of interest is required to appear.
“However, in practice, prosecutors often show up a person’s door to issue a subpoena, and if they refuse to be summoned, an arrest warrant is issued on the spot,” he said. “That does not constitute a procedural violation.”
The pan-blue camp is mixing two separate issues by saying that officers entered the four men’s homes two hours earlier than the time they were scheduled to be summoned, as a search is fundamentally different than a subpoena, he said.
However, Taipei prosecutor Lin Chun-ting’s (林俊廷) arrest warrants were excessive, as the four New Party members were listed as witnesses, not defendants, Lei said.
Similarly, the use of any coercive means of disposition, such as searching and arresting witnesses, is rare, as witnesses are defined as “third parties” under legal procedure, he said.
“Because the people involved in the incident are controversial, it highlights problems in investigative procedure,” he said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as