President William Lai’s (賴清德) proposal to reinstate military courts could be a boon to legal efficiency and discipline, a former military judicator said yesterday.
Lawyer Chen Chia-hung (陳佳鴻), formerly an armed forces judicator, said that military tribunals might relieve civilian courts of backlogged cases by swiftly dealing with breaches of military law cases.
That would allow speedy and proper trials for cases that would otherwise undermine the discipline and image of the armed forces, he said.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
Military justice requires a balance between human rights, and maintaining discipline and hierarchy, Chen said.
Military courts would likely hand down harsher sentences to deter service members from spying for China or straying from discipline, he said.
A prosecutor who specializes in dealing with military cases said that members of the judiciary often showed a lack of understanding in the requirements of discipline and leadership, which has led to calls for the restoration of military courts.
Former judicators without practical experience have trouble keeping up with changes in technology, which affect their ability to investigate crimes, such as the use of cryptocurrency in spying, they added.
Experts have called for military judicators to join civil benches to make the transition from peacetime to wartime easier.
Speaking at a conference last year, Lieutenant-General Shen Shih-wei (沈世偉), head of the Ministry of National Defense’s Judicial Department, expressed doubts about Taiwan’s ability to maintain military justice during war.
Taiwan’s current system, which envisions transitioning from civilian courts to military tribunals, would depend on the performance and skill of military jurists who do not have practical trial experience, he said, adding that the discipline that is meted out during wartime is different.
A military version of civilian administrative courts, restoring military prosecutors, involving judicators in cases concerning the armed forces’ code of conduct and establishing one to two tiers of military tribunals might help retain legal expertise in the military, Shen said.
Institute for National Defense and Security Research (INDSR) assistant research fellow Jiang Hsin-biao (江炘杓) said that holding collegiate bench courts composed of judges and judicators could prove useful in building legal experience.
Courts that are made up entirely of military jurists cannot be re-established, as their function was transferred to civilian courts, he said.
INDSR assistant research fellow Yang Chang-jong (楊長蓉) said that looking at other nations, a mixed bench of civilians and judicators could be a viable solution.
Armed forces personnel could act as advisers to civilian courts in trials that involve breaches of military law, but they would not have the power to render a judgement, she said.
ALIGNED THINKING: Taiwan and Japan have a mutual interest in trade, culture and engineering, and can work together for stability, Cho Jung-tai said Taiwan and Japan are two like-minded countries willing to work together to form a “safety barrier” in the Indo-Pacific region, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday said at the opening ceremony of the 35th Taiwan-Japan Modern Engineering and Technology Symposium in Taipei. Taiwan and Japan are close geographically and closer emotionally, he added. Citing the overflowing of a barrier lake in the Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) in September, Cho said the submersible water level sensors given by Japan during the disaster helped Taiwan monitor the lake’s water levels more accurately. Japan also provided a lot of vaccines early in the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic,
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) on Monday announced light shows and themed traffic lights to welcome fans of South Korean pop group Twice to the port city. The group is to play Kaohsiung on Saturday as part of its “This Is For” world tour. It would be the group’s first performance in Taiwan since its debut 10 years ago. The all-female group consists of five South Koreans, three Japanese and Tainan’s Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜), the first Taiwan-born and raised member of a South Korean girl group. To promote the group’s arrival, the city has been holding a series of events, including a pop-up
TEMPORAL/SPIRITUAL: Beijing’s claim that the next Buddhist leader must come from China is a heavy-handed political maneuver that will fall flat-faced, experts said China’s requirement that the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation to be born in China and approved by Beijing has drawn criticism, with experts at a forum in Taipei yesterday saying that if Beijing were to put forth its own Dalai Lama, the person would not be recognized by the Tibetan Buddhist community. The experts made a remarks at the two-day forum hosted by the Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama titled: “The Snow Land Forum: Finding Common Ground on Tibet.” China says it has the right to determine the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation, as it claims sovereignty over Tibet since ancient times,
Temperatures in some parts of Taiwan are expected to fall sharply to lows of 15°C later this week as seasonal northeasterly winds strengthen, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. It is to be the strongest cold wave to affect northern Taiwan this autumn, while Chiayi County in the southwest and some parts of central Taiwan are likely to also see lower temperatures due to radiational cooling, which occurs under conditions of clear skies, light winds and dry weather, the CWA said. Across Taiwan, temperatures are to fall gradually this week, dropping to 15°C to 16°C in the early hours of Wednesday
RSS