The Constitutional Court today issued its first judgement of the year, with five out of eight justices ruling that a defendant’s attorney can petition to cancel or change a court-ordered detention, as long as it aligns with the defendant’s interests and wishes.
While the Constitutional Court can constitutionally have up to 15 justices, it currently only has eight, as opposition party legislators have twice blocked the appointment of seven new justices.
This is the court’s second judgement since opposition party legislators passed amendments to the Constitutional Court Procedure Act (憲法訴訟法) at the end of 2024 requiring at least 10 justices to participate in deliberations and rulings, effectively freezing the court’s function.
Photo: Yang Hsin-hui
Five of the current justices issued a judgement on Dec. 19 last year ruling the amendments unconstitutional and invalid.
The remaining three refused to participate in deliberations, arguing that the ruling itself was invalid.
The judgement today said that these three justices also refused to participate in deliberations for this case.
If these three were counted toward the total number of justices, the court would be unable to issue a ruling, which would interfere with it exercising its power of constitutional interpretation and impede the petitioner’s right to litigation, contravening the Constitution, the judgement said.
Therefore, following the reasoning of the court’s judgement on Dec. 19, the three justices who refused to participate would be excluded from the current total, it said.
Today's ruling was about a petition accepted on Oct. 11, 2023, regarding a provision in Article 416 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法) that only allows detained defendants to file for release on their own behalf.
The petitioner, Lin Feng-fan (林峰帆), said that as detainees’ personal liberties are restricted, they are often unable to file for themselves.
However, lawyers are not allowed to file for them under the provision, effectively depriving them of any opportunity for redress, he said.
This contravenes constitutional protections of personal liberty and the right to litigation, Lin said, requesting the court declare the provision unconstitutional.
Lin was indicted by the Pingtung District Prosecutors’ Office for contravening the Fire, Ammunition and Knives Control Act (槍砲彈藥刀械管制條例), and the Pingtung District Court ordered his detention on Dec. 29, 2022.
The Pingtung District Court later rejected a request by Lin’s attorney to revoke the detention, as it only bore the attorney’s signature and not the defendant’s.
In today’s judgement, the Constitutional Court ruled this decision unconstitutional and said it should be annulled, remanding the case to the Pingtung District Court.
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
City buses in Taipei and New Taipei City, as well as the Taipei MRT, would on Saturday begin accepting QR code payments from five electronic payment providers, the Taipei Department of Transportation said yesterday. The new option would allow passengers to use the “transportation QR code” feature from EasyWallet, iPass Money, iCash Pay, Jkopay or PXPay Plus. Passengers should open their preferred electronic payment app, select the “transportation code” — not the regular payment code — unlock it, and scan the code at ticket readers or gates, General Planning Division Director-General Liu Kuo-chu (劉國著) said. People should move through the
The Ministry of National Defense (MND) today released images of the military tracking China’s People's Liberation Army (PLA) movements during the latest round of Chinese drills around Taiwan. The PLA began "Justice Mission 2025" drills today, carrying out live-fire drills, simulated strikes on land and maritime targets, and exercises to blockade the nation's main ports. The exercises are to continue tomorrow, with the PLA announcing sea and air space restrictions for five zones around Taiwan for 10 hours starting from 8:30am. The ministry today released images showing a Chinese J-16 fighter jet tracked by a F-16V Block 20 jet and the
RSS