2012 Work Results

■Prosecutorial System Reform

• "Anti-Rogue Prosecutors" Project: Composed of over 50 pro bono lawyers, the project analyzed certain cases finalized as not guilty by the Supreme Court to determine whether they involved dereliction of duty or abuse of power by prosecutors. Four press conferences were held on November 29 and December 8, 2011, and March 29 and June 11, 2012, respectively, to publicize specific cases of overzealous indictment and appeal, request explanations from the Ministry of Justice, and establish a general ex-post accountability mechanism.
• We will continue to analyze not-guilty judgments and other derived categorized cases, periodically publicize individual cases of improper prosecutorial conduct, and select suitable cases to hold press conferences, provide legislators with material for interpellation, or file reports directly with the Control Yuan to maintain ongoing pressure.
• The analyzed not-guilty judgments, after being categorized, indicate that (1) drug cases with evidently insufficient evidence for indictment and (2) cases of prosecutors indiscriminately appealing second-instance decisions to the third instance are worthy of continued tracking. Regarding the latter, official letters have been sent to the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Court to state their respective opinions, and individual case evaluations will be initiated thereafter to prompt the Ministry of Justice to establish a institutional accountability mechanism for prosecutorial over-indictment and over-appeal.

■The Judges Act - Individual Case Evaluation of Unfit Judges and Prosecutors

• On January 30, 2012, we petitioned the Judges Evaluation Commission to conduct an individual case evaluation of a judge from the Taiwan High Court, marking the first-ever petition for judicial evaluation in history. The Judges Evaluation Commission recommended a penalty of two demerits, which was subsequently issued as a written reprimand by the Personnel Review Committee of the Judicial Yuan pursuant to Article 21, Paragraph 1 of the Judges Act. On November 27, a complaint was filed against a judge of the Banqiao District Court, which was resolved as not subject to evaluation. Currently, there are still 3 evaluation cases pending review.
• On May 15, 2012, we petitioned the Prosecutor Evaluation Commission to conduct an individual case evaluation of a prosecutor from the Taipei District Prosecutors Office, submitting 3 cases concerning the same individual. Combined with 2 cases voluntarily submitted by the Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 5 cases were reviewed. The Prosecutor Evaluation Commission recommended a 2-year suspension, which is currently referred to the Control Yuan for impeachment.
• Since the operation of the Judges Act for over a year starting January 6, 2012, common problems identified include: restricting the public's right to directly file grievances against judges and prosecutors by requiring them to be submitted through officially chartered NGOs, while failing to grant such NGOs appropriate powers to investigate and inspect case files and evidence, thereby undermining the effectiveness of individual case evaluations; and the two-year statutory limitation period for filing grievances being too short, especially for grievances against prosecutors, where parties often dare not or are unwilling to file grievances in advance before a case has been finalized by a court judgment. In response, the Foundation will continue to monitor and criticize these issues and demand legal amendments.

■Complaint Center

• Since the establishment of the "Complaint Center" in July 2011, it has received an average of over 10 petition calls per day. As of the end of May 2013, there were 289 grievances against unfit judges and prosecutors, and 455 other cases, totaling 744 received cases. This averages to approximately 32 received cases per month.
• On May 30, 2013, regarding a public grievance concerning former Prosecutor Wu of the Hualien District Prosecutors Office, a press conference was held, and a total of 3 individual case evaluations are expected to be submitted to the Prosecutor Evaluation Commission in the near future.

■Public Participation in Trials

• Formed the "Alliance for the Promotion of Public Participation in Trials" with local bar associations, and officially held a press conference to explain the initiative on January 11, 2012. A civil-society counter-proposal was submitted, officially titled the "Criminal Trials Act with Citizen Participation." In November, presentations were successively given to the Taipei and Taichung Bar Associations. In April 2013, efforts began to integrate other versions of public participation in trial bills.
• Starting in October, simulated trial camp activities were organized across various universities. A total of 8 sessions were held in 2012, and 7 sessions have been held so far in 2013.

■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 submitted an alternative civil-society version, which passed its first reading on May 13, 2013.
• Preparations have already begun on discussing counter-proposals for amendments concerning the "Concluding Observations and Recommendations" of the two Covenants.

■Court Observation

• Continues to conduct service-learning courses on national court observation across various courts with various universities, with participating institutions including Chung Yuan Christian University, National Taipei University, Chinese Culture University, Soochow University (wait - Jingyi University is Providence University), Providence University, Kainan University, and National Cheng Kung University.
• Recruits volunteers and Foundation interns to conduct court observations on specific cases and write observation reports (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 21 years since the case began. The Taiwan High Court delivered its verdict on the third retrial (Remand III) on August 31, 2012, finally resulting in a finalized not-guilty verdict.
• Hsu Tzu-chiang Case: The seventh retrial was vacated and remanded by the Supreme Court on March 9, 2012. The eighth retrial was adjudicated on May 18, just before the Criminal Speedy Trial Act took effect, upholding the life imprisonment sentence, and Hsu Tzu-chiang was released in the early morning of May 19. On April 3, 2013, the Supreme Court once again vacated and remanded the case, which is currently undergoing the ninth retrial.
• Chiang Kuo-ching Case: Regarding the investigation into the torture for coerced confessions and abuse of power in prosecution by officers of the former Air Force Headquarters and Counter-Intelligence Command, all defendants were issued non-prosecution dispositions on the grounds that the statute of limitations had expired. With the assistance of the defense legal team, a motion for reinvestigation was successful, and the case was remanded for continued investigation on July 13, 2011. This led to a second non-prosecution disposition on August 24, 2012. The Taiwan High Prosecutors Office promptly announced the second revocation of the non-prosecution disposition on December 9, and the case is currently under investigation by the Taipei District Prosecutors Office. In addition, civil accountability litigation is ongoing at the Taipei District Court, which the Foundation will continue to monitor.
• chiu Ho-shun Case: After his appeal was dismissed by the Supreme Court on July 28, 2011, his sentence became final, and he faced 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 Chiou Ho-shun, arranged for the legal team to give campus lectures, produced short films, filed for retrials and constitutional interpretation, and issued a global urgent appeal through Amnesty International. Amnesty International has also listed Chiou Ho-shun as one of its 12 global priority rescue targets. This semester, to respond to letters of support arriving from around the world, the "Diplomatic Ambassadors Project" was launched, with students from National Chengchi University and Soochow University serving as Chiou Ho-shun's diplomatic ambassadors to assist in advocating for and supporting him.

■Continued Assistance to Alliance Work

• Participated in the "Covenants Watch," with current key work focusing on tracking the implementation of subsequent concluding observations and recommendations.
• Participated in the "Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty," with one of its current key tasks being the rescue of Cheng Hsing-tse.
• Participated in the "Legal Aid Protection Alliance," demanding that legal aid board directors understand the needs of disadvantaged groups and initiating amendments to the Legal Aid Act.
• Participated in the "Alliance for Action on Assembly and Parade Act Amendment," holding press conferences and assisting with individual cases.
• Participated in the "Citizen Congress Watch," assisting in improving the legislative ecosystem to build a civilized, transparent, public-interest-oriented, and efficient parliament.

■Publicity and Publishing

• Continues to update the Foundation's website and send out e-newsletters to make it easier for the public to search for information and receive news on the Foundation's activities.
• Periodically publishes the "Judicial Reform Magazine," offering in-depth reports on major judicial reform issues.
• Planning to publish a dedicated book on the Hsu Tzu-chiang case.
• Submits op-eds to print and media outlets regarding current judicial affairs.

■Legal Ethics Center

• Regularly holds reading groups and continues the second phase of the book publication project, anticipating the publication of sociology of law-related books in 2013.