Opposing Wind Turbines, Opposing Prosecutors Acting as Political Tools - Cycling Around Taiwan: Miaoli District Court Press Release

On the second day of the "Cycling Around Taiwan: Express Delivery of Local Judicial Reform Opinions" campaign, the group arrived at the Miaoli District Court, where they were joined in solidarity by the Yuanli Anti-Wind Turbine Self-Help Association. Since October 28, 2012, members and supporters of the association have faced indictment in 34 instances. With the exception of one defendant sentenced to 10 days of detention, all other defendants have been acquitted with finality. The Miaoli District Prosecutors Office's decision to indict these peaceful demonstrators clearly failed to withstand judicial scrutiny. In 2014, the Judicial Reform Foundation filed for individual prosecutor evaluations against the Miaoli District Prosecutors Office regarding prosecutors' office criminal investigation cases no. 2680 and 2680 of 2013—the two cases with the highest number of indicted individuals and the most perfunctory investigation procedures—on the following grounds:

1. The prosecutor neither personally interrogated the defendants nor investigated any evidence, but instead merely cited police interrogation records and the internal-duty prosecutor's re-interrogation records to rapidly indict 11 defendants within 10 days, violating investigation procedures in a serious manner.
2. The prosecutor deliberately ignored the specific circumstances of the case, mechanically applied legal precedents, and overbroadly applied the offense of coercion, which was patently improper.
3. The prosecutor concluded the investigation procedure without investigating the security personnel who committed violence against students, clearly showing dereliction of duty.

Today, the defendants in both cases have all been acquitted with finality. The indictments by the Miaoli District Prosecutors Office constituted such a waste of judicial resources and subjected the residents and supporters of the Self-Help Association to the torment of judicial entanglement over the past two years. Regrettably, regarding the individual prosecutor evaluations for the Yuanli anti-wind turbine case, the Prosecutor Evaluation Commission issued decisions under 2013 Ping-Tzu Nos. 16 and 17 not to discipline the prosecutors.

The Yuanli Anti-Wind Turbine Self-Help Association believes that the Miaoli District Prosecutors Office prosecutors' abuse of power and malicious prosecution was evidently influenced by the special task force established by the Miaoli County Government at the time, causing them to lose the independence and impartiality of judicial organs and become accomplices in the government's infringement upon citizens' rights. The Self-Help Association calls upon society to learn from this lesson, support judicial reform, sever the black hands of political interference in the judiciary, ensure the independent investigation and trial of the judiciary, and put an end to prosecutors acting as political tools.

Indictment Case Number	Defendants	Trial Result	Individual Evaluation
2013-Chen-Tzu No. 2680	11 persons	All acquitted.	2013 Ping-Tzu Decision No. 017 Decision: Not to submit for evaluation
2013-Chen-Tzu No. 2681	19 persons	All acquitted.	2013 Ping-Tzu Decision No. 016 Decision: Request unfounded
2013-Chen-Tzu No. 2575	2 persons	All acquitted.	--
2013-Chen-Tzu No. 2576	1 person	10 days of detention.	--
2013-Chen-Tzu Nos. 3586, 33623	1 person	Acquitted	--

Press Contacts

Hsiao Yi-min, Regional Coordinator, Judicial Reform Foundation