Call for Cases: "Acquitted in the First Instance, Convicted in the Second Instance, with No Right of Appeal"

Article 376 of the former Code of Criminal Procedure restricted petty offenses from being appealed to the Supreme Court, preventing defendants in cases where an acquittal in the first instance was overturned to a conviction in the second instance from seeking further appellate relief. Following Judicial Yuan Interpretation No. 752 which declared this unconstitutional, the Legislative Yuan amended Article 376 of the Code of Criminal Procedure at the end of 2017. However, the amendment failed to establish a remedy pathway for citizens whose right of appeal had previously been stripped, falling short of adequately safeguarding the people's right to constitutional litigation.

To address this, the Judicial Reform Foundation is advocating for the addition of Article 7-11 of the Enforcement Act of the Code of Criminal Procedure, enabling defendants or persons entitled to appeal in the interest of the defendant to apply to the Supreme Court for a retrial within two years from the enforcement date of this article.

If you are a party whose right of appeal was deprived under the old law, or if you have handled such cases—specifically, cases where the defendant was acquitted in the first instance and convicted upon appeal prior to the effective date of the amendment to Article 376 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and where an appeal was barred under the old law—and you believe there are legitimate grounds for appeal to the third instance, please provide the case to us as one of the reference cases for promoting legislative reform (regardless of whether a retrial, extraordinary appeal, or constitutional interpretation was pursued, as long as the final judgment of conviction in the second instance has never been revoked).

We hope to collect these cases involving the deprivation of the right of appeal under the former law to lobby the Legislative Yuan and the Judicial Yuan for legal amendments, working together to grant individuals suffering from injustice an opportunity for relief. Please send suitable case details (including the party's name and the case numbers of judgments across all instances) to the JRF email inbox, or have the party involved call the JRF complaint hotline.

Thank you for your assistance. Let us work together to promote legal reform!

Related Information

1. Comparison Table for the Amendment Adding Article 7-11 to the Enforcement Act of the Code of Criminal Procedure
2. Video of Party Affected by the Law (Dr. Huang Hui-fu)