Sept. 27 Court Hearing Part II

  To relate some more about the events of Monday's court hearing, here is an excerpt from an email I sent to my attorney Wednesday afternoon:

Attny Tu,

  Thank you for the further explanation about the judge's preference to reach a settlement. Although I totally disagree with the judge's final decision (against me & not officially declared yet) - the key point being that I did not get proper and lawful due process by the court. I have both the legal and human right to present my evidence, to prove my innocence, orally and totally, as clearly stated by Taiwan law, by international law and by international conventions on human and legal rights that Taiwan is a signatory to.

  In plain words, again my legal and human rights have been violated and, of course, the judge has come to a decision based on incomplete evidence, without allowing me my rights to take the stand and testify, without asking me any questions, and based on extremely faulty logic that what the witness says - without any evidence - is indisputable. It's a great joke. It is another clear example of what the Taiwan news media have been reporting for months now, that the judiciary is full of incompetence and corruption of various kinds. Judges who acquit (or give ridiculously light sentences to) sex offenders who abuse or rape 2-year-old, 3-year-old, and 6-year-old little children because "the victim did not reject the offender's actions" or because the victim "couldn't remember the correct time of the attack". It's very clear in my case too that the judge is totally out of touch with the reality of the 21st century that MANY false allegations of sex harassment happen, and out of touch with due process and the real facts of my case.

  To be continued... 
 

Twist to Sept. 27 Court Hearing

  Yesterday was another court hearing in my civil lawsuit against the sexual harassment accuser and the nursing college, so I'll get back to the Control Yuan, MOE and prosecutor's office matters later.

  An interesting but ultimately unsatisfactory twist in the proceedings started things off as the judge asked if I would be willing to discuss a settlement with the nursing college to end the lawsuit before the judge announced his decision. According to the interpreter, the judge indicated if the case goes to a decision he would rule that I did touch the accuser and that the college's dean of the nursing department did not violate the Gender Equity in Education Act by revealing my name to the public as soon as the accusation was made.

  To say the least I was incensed, infuriated and bedeviled by the judge's utter disregard for the facts of the case, the tangible, visible, credible proof I had already provided...and even more disgusted by the court's refusal for 2 years to abide by international and Taiwan law that guarantee all the human and legal right to speak on their own behalf whether the plaintiff or defendant in legal proceedings.

  I had spent many more hours preparing new evidence to present & submit to the court in what my attorney had earlier said would likely be the final hearing before a decision. Then, to get blindsided by this half-baked, halfhearted excuse for a "settlement" caught me completely off-guard. At least twice I had to endure listening to the judge say I had no evidence to prove my innocence - without ever allowing me to present my case in court - and facing this new obstacle to presenting my latest evidence, I had to do everything in my power to control my fury and desire to vent my anger at the court.

  Arrrrggghhh! Time to pause a while and cool down! Will continue...

Some Answers: Taipei District Prosecutor's Office and Ministry of Education

  This week I finally got a reply from the Taipei Prosecutor's Office about the complaint I filed against the four nursing college administrators all the way back on Feb. 2, 2009. This is the same complaint that was accepted for investigation by the prosecutor in October 2009, and after just one very brief meeting with the prosecutor in December 2009 the case mysteriously fell off the radar...until now.

  Then, on Thursday I got a letter from the Ministry of Education allegedly sent to me on March 19, 2009, that never reached me...until now. The letter is the MOE's answer to the Control Yuan's request for them to investigate my complaint against the nursing college also in February 2009.   

  Both of my complaints centered on charges of forgery, perjury, and misfeasance in the administration's handling of the sexual harassment accusation and the reversal of my contract renewal among other things.

  I'll write more about these two complaints later, but for now I'll tell you that the common thread of the two replies is how the "investigations" of the nursing college were handled. Both the prosecutor's office and the Control Yuan asked the Ministry of Education to handle the investigations. In one instance, the MOE requested the nursing college to investigate itself and report back to the MOE. In the other instance, the MOE merely referenced earlier complaints I had filed with the MOE and the Executive Yuan to avoid conducting a thorough investigation and to confuse the actual points of my new complaint. 

  This is exactly the kind of inappropriate, farcical and futile action I've been getting from government agencies here in Taiwan. The MOE is as much a part of the problems as the nursing college, and asking them to investigate themselves and the nursing college or asking the nursing college to investigate itself is quite obviously worthless. It's like asking the fox to guard the hen house and then letting him head the investigation into why all the chickens are gone!

  More about these complaints and my visit to the Control Yuan later. 

The Battle Against Intimidation and For Freedom of Speech

  As I mentioned in an earlier post, a major side battle took place when the nursing college decided to counter sue me for alleged defamation around August of 2008. It was their most desperate attempt to try and bully and intimidate me into dropping my civil lawsuit against them before it reached a decision.

  From what some faculty and staff at NTCN (國立臺北護理健康大學) have told me, the man who headed this attempt - at the time a vice president of the school - is fond of bragging about his law studies, he didn't pass the bar exam, and he is notorious for suing his nursing college colleagues, faculty, just about anyone, in his zeal to show off his legal prowess. They also told me, in fact, he is also infamous for losing most of the cases he files, including the defamation case he filed against me.

  You can read about this side battle at my WordPress blog: Taiwan: The Island of Injustice and Human Rights Abuses  

Three Years of Back Story: The Fraud and Rights Abuses of an Employer

 There are many positive things to be said about working abroad, particularly in these difficult times in the U.S. I have been teaching English off and on for over 12 years in Taiwan and Thailand and it has largely been a very positive experience. However, there are some downsides and potential dangers to living in another country with very different laws and systems of justice from your own. Along with the excitement and expectations of what you will do and experience wherever you go, you should also be aware of some pitfalls that might dampen your life abroad.

  After nine years of enjoying work, life and travel here in Asia, in 2007 I was blindsided by a false accusation of sexual harassment while teaching at the National Taipei College of Nursing  - a scam orchestrated by a few overzealous and overambitious administrators who didn’t want any more native-speaker English teachers there and a mentally ill student seeking the attention and favor of the administrators and her classmates.

  This has been a life-changing nightmare event that I’m still fighting in civil and administrative courts here in Taiwan. Just a few bad people have damaged my life and work and have forever stained an otherwise positive experience living abroad.

  Since the start of this ordeal I’ve been writing about it and my experiences fighting for justice and restoration of my life on Dave's ESL Cafe at: 

A Cautionary Tale Continues

Cautionary Tale: Unscrupulous admin & student = BIG Trouble

Letter to the American Institute in Taiwan

  Today I sent a letter to the director of the American Institute in Taiwan to update them on my case. In 2008 and 2009 I sent some emails and mailed some relevant documents to the AIT after problems with the civil court and later a criminal complaint was filed by the nursing college in one of their desperate attempts to intimidate me into dropping my lawsuit.  

  After an AIT representative checked with the civil court to find out why they refused to provide an interpreter for the first 2 court hearings, the judge asked me to pass a message to the AIT "not to interfere with the court". An early indication of the arrogance and disregard for even Taiwan's own laws and provisions for foreign litigants as well as for certain of their legal and human rights. 

  The American Institute has been able to do little else except to listen or read my letters & documents when I have something to update them about. 

  It's very much felt like I've been caught in a modern-day version of the 1997 movie "Red Corner", set in China and starring Richard Gere. Different countries and different crimes, yes, but too many similarities in several aspects of how foreigners (maybe many locals too) are treated by the courts and the stereotypes and prejudices with which they are viewed by the locals.

  Here's my letter to the AIT director:

 

September 21, 2010

美國在台協會 AIT

台北辦事處 楊甦棣 處長

Mr. William Stanton

106-59 台北市大安區信義路三段134巷7號106-59 台北市大安區信義路三段134巷7號106-59 台北市大安區信義路三段134巷7號106-59 台北市大安區信義路三段134巷7號106-59 台北市大安區信義路三段134巷7號106-59 台北市大安區信義路三段134巷7號106-59 台北市大安區信義路三段134巷7號106-59 台北市大安區信義路三段134巷7號  

 

Dear Director Stanton,

   I am sending you some updated information and documents about a nasty problem I’ve had here in Taiwan for the past 3+ years. If you check my records at AIT, you will find more information about this that I sent in previous years. I hope you will take some time to review the new and the previously-sent documents so you can understand that what has been happening to me is an example of what has happened to many other expats working in or visiting Taiwan. These kinds of legal and human rights abuses will continue to happen unless the U.S. government takes some appropriate steps to ensure that U.S. citizens (as well as others) are treated fairly, impartially and according to international conventions on human and legal rights when they are the accused or are the accusers in Taiwan’s administrative, civil and criminal courts as well as the prosecutor’s office.
 

Regards, 

Curtis W. Diggs Jr.

Letter to Taiwan's President

  Yesterday I mailed a letter to Taiwan President Ma Ying-Jeou together with copies of my letter to the acting Judicial Yuan director and attachments. Here's the letter:

中華民國總統 馬英九先生

President Ma Ying-Jeou

10048 台北市中正區重慶南路一段122號

No. 122, Sec. 1, Chongching S. Rd., Zhongzheng District, Taipei City 10048

Tel:  2311-3731

Dear President Ma,

   Thank you for your time to read this letter. I am writing to you because I know you are a man very respected for your high standards of honesty, integrity and dignity.  For the past 3+ years, my own highly-regarded reputation, my career, and my life, have been assaulted by a small corrupt and immoral clique of government administrators. My case is not just a personal one, it is one that has happened and will continue to happen to other innocent people in Taiwan unless something is done now to prevent recurrences of this sort.

   In addition, with all the recent news on corruption and incompetence in the judiciary making headlines, I want to remind you that there are other victims of this plague on Taiwan’s courts – people wrongly accused and found guilty of crimes they didn’t commit. These are truly innocent people, in particular foreign workers and visitors in your country, who are denied the truth and justice and are victimized a second time. I am such a victim of this kind of injustice.

   It is heartening to read that you are taking this issue of judicial corruption and incompetence seriously by initiating a new body to tackle the problem and make recommendations to improve the Taiwan’s judiciary. I hope the investigations and meetings will also focus on how to improve the poor and often unfair situation foreigners face in Taiwan’s courts, prosecutors offices and administrative procedures, especially involving sexual harassment and related types of cases.

   I have attached a copy of a letter I sent to the acting head of the Judicial Yuan along with some documents so you can understand my case and situation better. If possible, I hope I could meet with you or someone on your staff to share my nightmare experience and help your government to improve the judiciary for all – Taiwanese and the hundreds of thousands of foreigners who visit and work in Taiwan and contribute so much to Taiwan’s growth and development.

   We all deserve the protection of our legal and human rights, and the presumption of our innocence, something that any country of democratic principles and ambitions of developed-country stature should provide regardless of nationality, race, color, origin or gender.

Regards,

Curtis W. Diggs Jr.
 

No Evidence, Motive or Credibility Needed! All You Need Is a A 'Witness'

  One of the most vexing aspects of this judicial ordeal has been the court's reluctance or inability to rely on appropriate investigation, hard evidence and some common sense when hearing this case. The court has been fixated on the nursing college having one "witness" who claims to have seen me touch the accuser, ignoring all the contradictory physical and documentary evidence that shows there was very little to no chance that I could have or would have touched her.

  In addition, the accuser, witness and nursing college have conveniently changed various aspects of their testimony more than 3 times after I presented evidence refuting their previous claims. Apparently, in Taiwan courts the judge will allow certain parties to repeatedly alter the time, place, position, etc in order to favor one side and/or hinder the other. 

  When I asked my attorney about this situation in my case he candidly replied that "the judge doesn't think the time, place or position (of the accuser, myself and the witness) are important...just the witness says she saw me touch the accuser."  Apparently, nor are the numerous other items of evidence - photos, video, and time records - I've presented in support of my innocence important either.

  Here are some examples of this serious problem unfairly hindering my case:

• The accuser and NTCN first said the time of the alleged touch was about 12 p.m. when I was interrogated by the investigation committee on July 6, 2007. After I presented video and photo evidence showing everything between the accuser and I was normal and we were talking between 12:30 and 12:37 p.m., the accuser and NTCN changed the time to between 2 and 3 p.m at the district court hearing on November 25, 2008.
• Next, when I presented evidence from my Easy Card record that showed I had left National Taipei University of Science and Technology near 1 p.m., then the accuser and NTCN changed the time again, this time to between 12:30 and 12:40 p.m in their oral debate for the court on March 26, 2009.
• The accuser’s first statement to NTCN about her accusation, on June 6, 2007, she claimed that I came into the booth area from the front, stood close to her on her left side, and whispered something in her ear while touching her on the waist with my right hand for just a few seconds, then she immediately walked out to give cakes and drinks to guests.
• Just a few weeks later, her story to the Gender Equity Committee investigators changed to I touched her for one minute before she walked away. The alleged witness had a different story: She said I put my hand around the accuser’s waist for one minute while my head was turned the other direction talking to someone else. The accuser also changed her statement about what I said to her – the first time on June 6 she said I told her “Alice, I have a good idea. We can take these food out,” but at the November 25, 2008, hearing she changed her statement and said I said “The activity is almost finished, please take the cake out to guests,” also meaning it was a much later time than 12 p.m. – closer to the 2 to 3 p.m. time she claimed I touched her in the same testimony.
• Then, on the witness stand at the court hearing on August 9, 2010, the witness story changed again, this time she claimed that I was standing on the accuser’s right side, I reached around and touched her waist with my left hand for one minute while talking to the accuser. The witness claimed she was standing behind us when she allegedly saw this.
• In addition, the accuser and the nursing college have never established any motive, reason or intention for me to touch the accuser. They simply just claim that out of nowhere, suddenly, I put my hand around the waist of someone who I had no contact with for many months, someone who as a former student of mine showed signs of mental illness in my classes and I was also cautious about because of her attempts to email and chat with me in an unusually friendly way. In fact, more than once while I was behind inside the NTCN booth area it was the accuser who initiated conversation with me, including asking to sit next to me and talk while I was eating lunch by myself. I had no reason or motive to touch the accuser, and there were always at least three people inside the booth and hundreds of people walking all around the area at all times who would have seen anything happening if I had really touched anyone.

3+ Years of Fighting Prejudice, Discrimination & Injustice in Taiwan

  As Typhoon Fanapi disrupts life on this small island just southwest of mainland China today, it's a good time to begin this blog - a cautionary tale of some of the serious problems in Taiwan.  

  There are many wonderful things to see and do in Taiwan, and many good people, but for those of you considering visiting or working in Taiwan, you should also know there are some growing dangers here less obvious than typhoons and earthquakes.

  Like anywhere in the world, in Taiwan there are some very bad and overambitious local people who aren't shy to take advantage of and violate others to satisfy their needs and goals. Plenty of people here have stereotypes and prejudices of "foreigners" that affect their judgment and treatment of us. To make matters worse, for foreigners who are unwitting victims of these kinds of people, the justice system here is of little to no help. 

  Recent news about scandals and incompetence in the judiciary - all the way up to the Supreme Court  - have been making headlines for the past couple months. Foreigners are easy victims of locals who file complaints and a judiciary that too often acts (or fails to act) based on their stereotypes of and biases against foreigners. Those who dare to seek justice for wrongs done to them by locals face an equally daunting and almost impossible situation to win in Taiwan courts.

  I’m speaking about this from my own experience having lived in Taiwan for most of the past 12 years and for the past 3+ years having been fighting a David vs Goliath battle in civil and administrative courts against some unscrupulous administrators at a nursing college in Taipei where I used to teach.

  To bring you near up-to-date on where I'm at now with my fight, take a look at this long letter I just wrote to the acting head of Taiwan's Judicial Yuan who was recently nominated by President Ma Ying Jeou to take the reins of this judicial watchdog and guide reforms in light of the most recent scandals involving high court judges, prosecutors and others both inside and out of the judiciary.

Letter to Acting Judicial Yuan President - Sept. 17, 2010