2011 Work Achievements

■Prosecutorial System Reform

• "Hunt Down Bad Prosecutors" Project: Composed of over 50 pro bono lawyers, this project analyzed several final judgments of acquittal by the Supreme Court to determine whether they were related to prosecutorial dereliction of duty or abuse of power. Press conferences were held on November 29, 2011, December 8, 2011, March 29, 2012, and June 11, 2012 to publicize specific cases of unwarranted prosecution and appeal, demand explanations from the Ministry of Justice, and establish a general ex post accountability mechanism.
• We will continue to analyze acquittals and other derived categorized cases, periodically publicize individual cases of improper conduct by prosecutors, select suitable cases for press conferences, provide legislators with materials for interpellation, or file reports directly with the Control Yuan to maintain ongoing pressure.

■The Judges Act—Filing Individual Evaluations against Unfit Judges and Prosecutors

• On January 30, 2012, we petitioned the Judges Evaluation Commission to conduct an individual evaluation of a Taiwan High Court judge, marking the first-ever request for a judge evaluation in history.
• The Judges Act restricts citizens' right to directly file complaints against judges and prosecutors, requiring such requests to be submitted by officially authorized civil organizations. However, it fails to grant civil organizations appropriate powers to investigate and inspect case files, rendering the individual evaluation mechanism ineffective. The Foundation will continue to monitor and critique this, demanding legislative amendments.

■Complaint Center

• Since the establishment of the "Complaint Center" in July 2011, we have received an average of over 10 grievance calls per day. By the end of July 2012, we had handled over 400 cases, averaging about 33 cases per month.
• On April 17, 2012, addressing a public grievance regarding the inappropriate courtroom demeanor of a prosecutor surnamed Lin at the Taipei District Prosecutors Office, we held a press conference. That very night, the Taipei District Prosecutors Office's Merit Review Committee resolved to recommend a disciplinary reprimand from the Ministry of Justice. Subsequently, the Foundation received 13 additional grievance cases concerning Prosecutor Lin. After conducting interviews and consultations with the parties involved, we held a second press conference on May 3 to publicize four more cases of inappropriate conduct during investigation and speech. Starting May 16, we successively filed two individual evaluation petitions with the Prosecutors Evaluation Commission.

■Citizen Participation in Trials

• In cooperation with Academia Sinica, we filmed mock trial videos to provide scholars with empirical research materials on Taiwan's system of citizen participation in trials, as well as to serve as promotional material for the Foundation regarding this system.
• From December 12 to 14, 2011, in cooperation with the College of Law, National Taiwan University, we invited Professor Valerie Hans, an authority on systems of citizen participation in trials, to Taiwan for lectures and seminars to offer suggestions and reflections tailored to Taiwan's circumstances.
• Together with local bar associations, we formed the "Alliance for Citizen Participation in Trials" and officially held a press conference on January 11, 2012, to explain the civil society perspective and the reasons for opposing the Judicial Yuan's version of the "participatory adjudication system." We proposed a civil society counter-bill, formally named the Act on Criminal Trials with Citizen Participation (國民參與刑事審判法).

■Further Reform of the New Criminal Procedure System

• In response to the Judicial Yuan's proposed amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure for the new legislative session, the Foundation proposed its own civil society counter-bill to accelerate the pace of reform.

■Court Observation

• We continued to implement nationwide court observation service-learning courses with various schools. Participating schools included Kainan University, Chung Yuan Christian University, National Chung Cheng University, National Cheng Kung University, Soochow University [Note: 靜宜 translates to Providence, but keeping standard names applies], Chinese Culture University, National Taipei University, National Taiwan University, National Tsing Hua University, Taipei First Girls' High School, etc.
• We recruited volunteers and Foundation interns to conduct court observations and write observation reports on specific cases (such as the Hsu Tzu-chiang case, the Su Chien-ho case, specific judges reported by the public, and Supreme Court oral argument sessions, etc.).

■Case Rescue

• Su Chien-ho Case: Su Chien-ho, Liu Bing-lang, and Chuang Lin-xun were arrested on August 15, 1991, marking the 21st anniversary of this case. The Taiwan High Court rendered its verdict on the third retrial (更三審) on August 31 of this year. Although the three men had previously obtained two successive acquittals from the High Court, subsequent developments still require ongoing assistance and concern from all sectors.
• Hsu Tzu-chiang Case: The seventh retrial proceedings resulted in a life imprisonment sentence on November 25, 2011. After the pro bono legal team appealed, the Supreme Court remanded the case for retrial on March 9, 2012. The eighth retrial proceedings began on March 27 of this year and rushed to deliver a verdict on May 18, just before the Criminal Speedy Trial Act took effect, upholding the life imprisonment sentence. Hsu Tzu-chiang was released in the early morning of May 19. Currently, with the assistance of the JRF Volunteer Team, he is organizing his case files and litigation documents to actively prepare for subsequent judicial litigation.
• Chiang Kuo-ching Case: He has already been posthumously acquitted via retrial, and compensation has been granted pursuant to the Criminal Procedure Compensation Act. However, regarding the accountability of officers from the former Air Force Headquarters and Counter-Intelligence Command who tortured him into a confession and prosecuted him abusively, non-prosecution dispositions were issued to all defendants on the grounds that the statute of limitations had expired. With the assistance of the legal team, an application for re-adjudication (再議) was successful, and the case was remanded for continued investigation on July 13, 2011. Nevertheless, more than 400 days have passed, and no concrete investigative actions by the Taipei District Prosecutors Office have been seen; the Foundation will continue its oversight.
• Chiang Ho-shun Case: After his appeal was dismissed by the Supreme Court on July 28, 2011, his conviction became final, and he faces the imminent danger of execution. To prevent the tragedies of Lu Cheng and Chiang Kuo-ching from repeating, the Foundation urgently mobilized, formed a volunteer team to conduct regular weekly visits to Chiang Ho-shun, arranged for the legal team to give campus lectures, produced short films, petitioned for retrials and constitutional interpretations, and issued a global urgent action appeal through Amnesty International. Amnesty International has also listed Chiang Ho-shun as one of its 12 global priority rescue targets.

■Ongoing Assistance to Alliance Work

• Participated in the "Covenants Watch," assisting in drafting the "Civil Society Shadow Report" and holding a press conference.
• Participated in the "Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty," inviting former United Nations Special Rapporteur Manfred Nowak to Taiwan to visit Chiang Ho-shun.
• Participated in the "Alliance to Safeguard Legal Aid," questioning the operations of the Legal Aid Foundation through legislators.
• Participated in the "Alliance for Professionalism in the Judiciary," jointly visiting the Control Yuan regarding issues in the court interpreter system. The Control Yuan issued an investigation report and a corrective measure on April 11, 2012.
• Participated in the "Alliance for the Amendment of the Assembly and Procession Act," holding press conferences and assisting with individual cases.
• Participated in the "Citizen Congress Watch," periodically evaluating legislators' performance to improve the legislative ecology and build a civilized, sunny, public-interest-oriented, transparent, and efficient parliament.

■Publicity and Publishing

• Continuously updated the Foundation's website and distributed e-newsletters, making it convenient for the public to search for information and receive news on the Foundation's activities.
• Regularly published the "Judicial Reform Magazine," offering in-depth reports on major judicial reform issues.
• Studied and planned the publication of a dedicated book on the Hsu Tzu-chiang case.
• From September 2011 to the end of August 2012, published over 40 op-eds and submissions in newspapers and media regarding current judicial affairs, averaging over 3 pieces per month.

■Center for Rooting Rule of Law Education

• The "Taiwan Association for Civic and Legal Education" was officially established in December 2011.

■Center for Legal Ethics Education

• Regularly held reading groups and continued the second phase of the book publication project, with a book related to the sociology of law expected to be published by the end of the year.