Meeting with Minister of Justice Liao Cheng-hao Regarding Prosecutors Attending Court Hearings

This morning, the Judicial Reform Foundation specifically visited Minister of Justice Liao Cheng-hao to discuss the matter of prosecutors attending court hearings. The opinions fully exchanged during the meeting are as follows:

1. Prosecutors Attending Hearings for Major Cases

   The Ministry of Justice stated that starting today, it has required the original prosecuting prosecutors to attend court hearings and present arguments for major criminal cases, corruption cases, and violations of the Organized Crime Prevention Act, in order to implement the system of prosecutors attending court. The Foundation expresses its strong support for this and will issue a formal letter to the Taiwan Bar Association, urging lawyers nationwide to monitor the subsequent implementation to ensure the concrete execution of prosecutors attending hearings.

2. Submitting a Comprehensive Implementation Plan and Schedule

   Aside from major criminal cases and others, the Foundation still expects the Ministry of Justice to propose a timeline for comprehensive implementation, rather than merely achieving "partial justice" through selective court attendance. Furthermore, prosecutors attending hearings has wide-reaching implications and clearly requires overall planning to be smoothly implemented; otherwise, under the current circumstances of insufficient manpower and excessive caseloads, prosecutors attending hearings will inevitably become empty talk. Therefore, the Foundation eagerly hopes that the Ministry of Justice can propose a concrete implementation plan and schedule to prevent the matter of attending hearings from being indefinitely delayed.

3. Establishing Prosecutors' Case-Filing Review Power and Expanding the Application of Summary Sentences

   Regarding complementary measures related to prosecutors attending hearings, the Foundation specifically proposed recommendations such as establishing prosecutors' "case-filing review power" and "expanding the scope of application for summary sentences," hoping the Ministry of Justice will study, evaluate, and implement them as soon as possible.

4. Establishing Prosecutorial Independence to Effectively Enhance Prosecutorial Capacity

   Regarding the plan by the Ministry of Justice to emulate Japan by establishing a "Special Investigation Department" to enhance prosecutors' case-handling capabilities, the Foundation also put forward a concrete proposal to subordinate the Investigation Bureau's crime investigation and prevention system under the prosecution system, thereby instantly resolving issues regarding staffing and the timeframe for talent training. However, the Foundation must still emphasize that no matter how changes are made, the primary task of the prosecution system remains improving public confidence in the independence and impartiality of prosecutors. If the exercise of the so-called principle of prosecutorial unity—such as personnel transfers and duty reassignments of chief prosecutors and prosecutors—cannot be thoroughly made public and transparent, it will be difficult to win public trust or establish the external independent credibility of the prosecution system.

In short, the Foundation re-emphasizes that the problems currently faced by the prosecution authorities are issues of comprehensive structural adjustment, with the establishment of an independent and impartial prosecution system as the top priority. This is not simply a matter of insufficient resources such as funding and personnel. Only under the premise of fully earning the people's trust can a correct and efficient prosecutorial investigation and defense system be established.