All eight sitting justices of the Constitutional Court met this morning for a closed-door briefing to assess whether it was constitutional for prosecutors to apply an older statute of limitations to dismiss a case of child sexual abuse dating back to the 1990s.
Article 80 of the Criminal Code, which defines the statute of limitations, was amended in 2005 to extend the statute to 30 years for offenses that carry the death penalty or life imprisonment.
Prior to the amendments, the statute of limitations was set at 20 years.
Photo: Taipei Times
The plaintiff says she was sexually abused by her older male cousin from 1996 to 1999 when she was under the age of 14.
She filed a suit against the cousin in December 2021.
However, the Shilin District Prosecutors' Office decided not to prosecute, as the case had already surpassed the statute of limitations from before the 2005 amendments.
Under the original 20-year limit, the last chance to file would have been in 2019.
Her appeal was then rejected by the Shilin District Court on the same grounds, finalizing the ruling.
She requested a constitutional review of the legal provisions, arguing that the ruling contravenes the principles of equality and proportionality, and the right to litigation and due process in the Constitution.
She further argued that the ruling contravened Article 10, Paragraph 6 of the Additional Articles of the Constitution (中華民國憲法增修條文), which protects the “dignity of women” and ensures gender equality.
The Constitutional Court accepted the case, plus nine related petitions filed by others, including former legislator Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智).
On Feb. 23, the plaintiff’s legal representative, legislators and civil groups held a news conference demanding that all of the Grand Justices participate in deliberations.
Following controversial amendments to Constitutional Court procedures passed by the legislature in December 2024, the bench was left without the ability to convene a quorum.
Five of the eight sitting justices in December last year ruled the amendments unconstitutional, but the dissenting three justices refused to vote, saying it was illegal under the law to issue a judgement.
The three justices have also refused to participate in subsequent court proceedings.
However, all eight Grand Justices attended the hearing this morning.
Taiwan’s statute of limitations has come under wider scrutiny recently, as the Executive Yuan in January advanced draft amendments to delay the start of the count for the statute of limitations to until a child sexual abuse victim turns 20.
The Control Yuan, legislators and civil groups have called for a constitutional judgement of the current regulations and to exclude the period before adulthood from the statute of limitations.
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