Court Observation Recruitment | Third Criminal Retrial Petition in Former National Handball Player Chen Ching-Kai's Case

Chen Ching-Kai became blind after a car accident in 2009. After working hard at rehabilitation and returning to everyday life, he was reported for allegedly feigning blindness. Despite an assessment by National Taiwan University, diagnostic reports from multiple hospitals, and testimony from an orientation-and-mobility instructor for people who are blind, the court concluded that Chen was not blind because he could catch a frisbee, play ball, and write. Finding that he had feigned blindness to obtain automobile-insurance proceeds, the court convicted him of fraud in a final judgment on February 14, 2018.

Four years later, Chen Ching-Kai's two petitions for a criminal retrial have both been denied. By contrast, he has successively prevailed in the civil lawsuits brought by insurers seeking repayment of insurance proceeds, yet he still has not reached the final step toward exoneration.

On April 1, the Kaohsiung Branch of the Taiwan High Court will hold an investigative hearing on the third retrial petition in this case to determine whether a retrial should be granted. This is the third retrial petition in the case and the first one filed by a prosecutor from the Kaohsiung Branch of the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office following a resolution by the High Prosecutors Office's Review Committee on Final Criminal Convictions.

We sincerely hope that, as Chen Ching-Kai begins another year of his life, he can finally reach the end of the road to exoneration. We invite everyone to send him their best wishes, attend the investigative hearing, and continue following the case.

Online Registration

Time

Friday, April 1, 2022, at 9:30 a.m.

Location

Courtroom 3, 1st Floor, Kaohsiung Branch, Taiwan High Court (No. 586, Mingcheng 3rd Rd., Gushan Dist., Kaohsiung City)