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.
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