The Constitutional Court on Monday said in a judgement that a rule governing how appeals in criminal cases are allotted to Supreme Court judges does not violate the Constitution, narrowing hopes for retrials for 35 people on death row.
Fifty-two people, including 35 people who have been sentenced to death, requested an interpretation of the Supreme Court’s case allotment rules, which stipulate that serious criminal cases appealed to the Supreme Court after being sent back to lower courts at least twice must be heard by the same judge who heard them previously, unless that judge has left the court.
The rule is intended to ensure that appeals do not take too long by having a presiding judge who is familiar with the case.
Photo: CNA
The petitioners argued that the rule contravened their constitutional right to a fair trial.
However, the Constitutional Court said that requiring the same judge to hear such cases did not contravene the right to appeal as stipulated in Article 16 of the Constitution.
Judges should recuse themselves if they are selected to hear an appeal of a case in which they have previously participated in issuing a verdict, it added.
The Constitutional Court gave the legislature two years to amend recusal laws in the Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法).
If the court had ruled in favor of the petitioners, the 35 people on death row who had cases allotted according to the rule might have been eligible for retrials.
In related news, the Ministry of Justice on Monday said that it was currently unable to carry out executions, as the 38 people on death row have a separate petition pending before the Constitutional Court.
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