Welcoming the Long-Overdue Amendments to the Code of Service Court Procedure – A Statement by the Judicial Reform Foundation

This noon, the Legislative Yuan swiftly passed the third reading of the amendments to the Code of Service Court Procedure. This not only removes Hung Chung-chiu's case from military jurisdiction, but also completely returns military cases during peacetime to the jurisdiction of ordinary courts.

As early as 1997, the Justices of the Constitutional Court rendered Interpretation No. 436 concerning military trials, holding that the operation of military trials must comply with the requirements of due process of law and granting a two-year deadline for legislative amendment. Although the 1999 amendment to the Code of Service Court Procedure did not exceed the deadline set by the Grand Justices, its substantive content still fell far short of their requirements. To this day, the personnel and budget of military legal units remain firmly in the hands of the Ministry of National Defense, and the process and results of their investigation and trial of the Hung Chung-chiu case have completely failed to gain the trust of the general public, even prompting 250,000 citizens in white shirts to take to Ketagalan Boulevard in protest. The fundamental reason for this lies in the excessive compromises made during the 1999 amendment of the Code of Service Court Procedure.

This legislative amendment fully returns the investigation and trial of offenses committed by military personnel during peacetime to ordinary judicial authorities, symbolizing a major step forward for human rights in the military. We welcome this development and extend our utmost gratitude to the 250,000 citizens who personally took to Ketagalan Boulevard on August 3, as well as to Hung Chung-chiu himself—whose life was sacrificed to bring about reform—and the deeply suffering Hung family.

Press Contact

Lin Feng-cheng, Executive Director, Judicial Reform Foundation 02-25231178