The democratically elected president does not trust the people, rushing legislation with zero impact for judicial reform: Sit-in protest and press conference opposing the inclusion of the Draft National Participation in Criminal Trials Act in the Legislative Yuan's provisional session

The Alliance for Promoting the Concurrent Trial of Lay Participation and Jury Systems—composed of civil society organizations such as the Judicial Reform Foundation and the Taiwan Association for Innocence (Taiwan Jury Association)—held a press conference titled "The Democratically Elected President Does Not Trust the People, Rushing Legislation with Zero Impact for Judicial Reform" at 9:30 AM on June 29 outside the main gate of the Legislative Yuan. They were joined by opposition caucus whips, Legislator Lai Hsiang-ling of the Taiwan People's Party (TPP) and Legislator Chiu Hsien-chih of the New Power Party (NPP). The event protested the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus's proposal to add the draft "National Participation in Criminal Trials Act" to the agenda of the Legislative Yuan's provisional session. Alliance members also staged a sit-in protest throughout the duration of the provisional session to demonstrate their determination.

1. Excluding the jury system, which empowers the people, not only breaches promises but also shows a lack of trust in the choices made by the people

   In this year's (2020) presidential election, President Tsai Ing-wen secured the support of over 8.17 million voters to win re-election. In her victory speech, she stated: "Over the next four years, we will definitely continue to safeguard our national sovereignty, continue to uphold democracy, continue to advance reforms, and fulfill our past promises item by item." However, following the election, President Tsai supported the lay participation system promoted by the Judicial Yuan on the issue of lay participation in trials. She ignored the Judicial Yuan's and civil society's promise to negotiate the dual-track parallel implementation of both jury and lay participation systems; she ignored the commitments made by 17 DPP legislators, including Ker Chien-ming, who once co-signed in support of the jury system; she ignored the jury system bill proposed by Caucus Whip Ker Chien-ming in the name of the DPP caucus in 2012; and she ignored the DPP party platform's explicit commitment to adopt the jury system. The Alliance believes that the jury system is the embodiment of popular sovereignty, and keeping promises is a basic requirement for politicians. The Alliance calls on President Tsai and DPP legislators to honor their promises and refrain from excluding the people-empowering jury system from the framework of criminal trials with citizen participation in favor of a judge-dominated lay participation system alone. Doing otherwise would be tantamount to stripping the people of their right to choose between the jury and lay participation systems.

2. Despite repeated objections from the Alliance and all opposition caucus whips against reviewing the bill during the provisional session, the DPP still intends to force it through

   Legislative Yuan President Yu Hsi-kun convened cross-caucus consultations on June 23, during which the DPP legislative caucus proposed handling the draft National Participation in Criminal Trials Act during the provisional session, which was met with collective opposition from opposition parties. Because the draft remains highly controversial and involves major judicial reforms—and given that the public has yet to fully understand the substance of the jury and lay participation systems—rushing to review such an important bill is inappropriate. Furthermore, the exclusion of the NPP caucus's draft criminal jury bill from the agenda for concurrent discussion drew strong opposition from NPP Caucus Whip Chiu Hsien-chih.

   In fact, as early as May 8, when the Alliance held the press conference "The Runaway Train of Public Participation in Trials: Who Calls to Stop?", and on June 10, when the Alliance held the press conference "No Rushed Legislation for Lay Judges Before Consensus is Reached Across Party Lines," attendance and support for the Alliance's demand for the concurrent trial implementation of both jury and lay participation systems were secured from Kuomintang (KMT) Caucus Whip Lin Wei-chou, NPP Caucus Whip Chiu Hsien-chih, and TPP Caucus Whip Lai Hsiang-ling, all of whom opposed reviewing the bill during the Legislative Yuan's provisional session.
   During the first session of the current Legislative Yuan, the Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee reviewed relevant drafts over two days on April 27 and 29. The first day covered the lay participation version jointly submitted by the Judicial Yuan and the Executive Yuan, as well as the lay participation version proposed by DPP Legislator Chou Chun-mi and others. A total of 113 articles were reviewed in just one day, with 30 articles—more than a quarter—being reserved. On April 29, the jury system version proposed by the NPP caucus was reviewed. A total of 129 articles were reviewed in a single day, with more than two-thirds of the provisions reserved by the committee. The KMT and TPP had also submitted different versions. This indicates the existence of varying versions and that numerous unresolved controversies within the drafts require in-depth discussion. However, unlike a regular session, a provisional session of the Legislative Yuan lacks committees to process bills, making it impossible to conduct detailed discussions on the proposals. Therefore, the Alliance considers handling the draft national lay participation act during a provisional session to be an extremely rushed legislative approach.

   During the process, although the DPP caucus engaged in private negotiations with Alliance representatives, negotiations ultimately broke down without consensus because the Judicial Yuan and the Ministry of Justice refused to adopt the Alliance's opinions or leave room for compromise, and the DPP also declined to support the Alliance's proposed draft version for the concurrent trial implementation of both systems. Afterward, the DPP proceeded according to its original plan, ignoring the opposition from minority parties and civil society, seeking to force the bill through during the Legislative Yuan's provisional session.

   The Alliance maintains that there are currently numerous versions of the draft National Participation in Criminal Trials Act, and many provisions were reserved during the review by the Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee. Because provisional sessions do not convene committees, it is impossible to deliberate on every single provision thoroughly. Therefore, the Alliance urges that the matter should not be handled hastily during a provisional session, but rather deliberated during the next regular session. In addition, the Legislative Yuan will hold a plenary meeting of all legislators at 10:30 AM today (29th) to decide on matters related to the provisional session. The Alliance reiterates its call that the National Participation in Criminal Trials Act should not be placed on the agenda of the provisional session and should instead be deliberated during a regular session to avoid hasty legislation.

3. In addition to a sit-in protest, the Alliance will also march around the Legislative Yuan and the Presidential Office, and host mock trials and evening rallies

   The Alliance will stage a sit-in protest outside the main gate of the Legislative Yuan throughout the provisional session from June 29 to July 22, and will march around the Legislative Yuan at 12:00 PM and 5:30 PM daily. Furthermore, throughout the sit-in period, press conferences will be held every morning at 9:30 AM to clearly explain the Alliance's position on the concurrent trial implementation of both the jury and lay participation systems as well as the contents of the draft, clarify external misunderstandings regarding the Alliance, and point out the inadequacies of the Judicial Yuan's draft lay participation system—detailing the detrimental impact its passage would have on judicial reform.

   In addition to sit-ins and protests marching around the Legislative Yuan, the Alliance also plans a series of actions: First, a "Street Mock Jury Trial" event will be held at 6:30 PM on Friday, July 3, allowing the public to personally experience the courtroom operations of a jury system and enhance public understanding of it. Second, an evening rally is scheduled for 6:30 PM on Saturday, July 4, at the intersection of Jinan Road and Zhongshan South Road by the Legislative Yuan, gathering voices from all sectors of civil society to speak out together and demonstrate the Alliance's will and determination. Third, on Sunday afternoon, July 5, in addition to marching around the Legislative Yuan, crowds will gather to march toward the Presidential Office, calling on President Tsai Ing-wen to engage in a public televised debate rather than forcibly promoting the single-system trial of lay participation. Finally, if the Legislative Yuan continues to ignore the widespread public voice supporting the parallel implementation of both systems and forcibly holds a vote during the provisional session, the Alliance will take further action to protest.

Attending Representatives

Attorney Lin Yung-sung / Chairperson, Judicial Reform Foundation (Convener)
Attorney Cheng Wen-lung / Founding Chairperson, Taiwan Association for Innocence (Taiwan Jury Association) (Convener)
Legislator Lai Hsiang-ling / Caucus Whip, Taiwan People's Party, Legislative Yuan
Legislator Chiu Hsien-chih / Caucus Whip, New Power Party, Legislative Yuan
Chairperson Wang Wei-chun / Member, National Congress on Judicial Reform; Chairperson, Republic of China Children's Rights Promotion Association
Executive Director Chang Hung-lin / Executive Director, Citizen Congress Watch
Secretary-General Sun Yu-lien / Secretary-General, Taiwan Labour Front
Li Chuan-hsin / President, Taiwan North Society

Press Contacts

Judicial Reform Foundation / Director Hsiao I-min
Taiwan Association for Innocence (Taiwan Jury Association) / Deputy Secretary-General Lin Ping-ch'üan