Putting a Price on Life and Human Rights in Taiwan

  I came across a very enlightening editorial in the Nov. 7 Taipei Times newspaper about the Taiwanese judiciary's recent ruling that the mother of a wrongly convicted and executed young serviceman would receive $3.4 million in compensation for the loss of her son. While highlighting several troubling aspects of this case, author Lin Feng-jeng aptly points out the Taiwanese judiciary's and government's penchant for claiming that everything they do is "done according to the law." 
  According to the faulty logic of this oft-used excuse in Taiwan, the young man's confession under torture and duress, his execution, the lack of punishment for those guilty of violating his human and legal rights and for orchestrating his conviction and execution, were all handled "according to the law." 
  In my case, I was also told numerous times by the judge, prosecutor's and staff at the prosecutor's office, and even by some lawyers, that everything about my case was being handled "according to the law." In fact, my last lawyer, in a fit of anger while we were arguing about how poorly my case was being handled by the court and how much my legal and human rights were being violated, told me point-blank that "The truth didn't matter." He went on to explain that in Taiwan's courts, what judges care about is "who has the evidence" that the judge deems relevant according to his own thinking. Put simply, the parties in court are at the whims, fancies and biases of the particular judge, and whoever is lucky enough to be in the judge's favor will win the case!
  Read the editorial for more about how the law, judiciary and government handle legal and human rights in Taiwan:  Vote For a Legal System That Is Just

The Tally So Far After 3 Years: 5 Lawyers, 2 Judges and No Decision

  Late Wednesday night, during another "lively" email exchange of differing opinions on my civil lawsuit, my attorney ended his final reply by declaring "I cannot agree the way you treat your lawyers and terminate the mandate here," becoming the 4th lawyer in the 3 years of the lawsuit to quit. All of the lawyers were provided through the Legal Aid Foundation in Taipei. I wonder if this is a common occurrence for attorneys in Taiwan to just up and quit when the client doesn't always see eye-to-eye with them.
  So the "here today, gone tomorrow" tally in this saga stands at 5 lawyers (add one who was the first to take my administrative case and I requested he be replaced) and 2 judges since 2008. With each new lurch in this case, it becomes clearer there is something more going on than just a battle over a simple, baseless false accusation.
  There is still no word on a new judge or the next court hearing date...already going on 3 months since the last hearing and 5 months since the previous judge declared I had 2 choices: either drop my lawsuit before he issued a ruling, or lose the suit because the judge had already decided the defendants were not guilty of any of the charges. This he had decided without ever allowing me to testify and present my evidence in court, while allowing 2 of the defendants to testify, including the accuser who spent almost all 40+ minutes of her time playing the "crying game" in another of her and the nursing university's dirty tricks to obscure the truth and unduly influence the court.
  On Jan. 13, the administrative high court here dismissed my appeal of the nursing university's sexual harassment decision on "procedural" grounds, meaning they won't proceed to hear the facts of the case because it doesn't meet their criteria. The court claims it is still a matter for the nursing university to handle.

More Obstacles: 'Dinosaurs', Corruption and Taiwan's Weak Judicial Reform

  Even for the average Taiwanese, seeking redress through Taiwan's courts is a very daunting experience. For foreigners, it is all but "mission impossible" to achieve justice whether the plaintiff or defendant.

  In addition to the obstacles I've already pointed out in my own particular case, the inadequate state of Taiwan's judiciary due to a plethora of what are referred to locally as "dinosaur" judges, corruption from the top court down, and long-running procrastination on and stymieing of judicial reform are also serious impediments to justice here.

  Here is sampling of what the local press has been reporting in recent months about the Taiwan government's half-hearted and ineffective attempts at judicial reform:

Draft judges' law is still a 'dinosaur
Draft for anti-corruption bureau fails, for now
Justice system mustn't isolate itself: Ma
Ma offers support for judicial reform
Ma realizes importance of judicial reform

Trying To Halt Years of Injustice

  Here is a lengthy complaint I sent to Taiwan's Judicial Yuan in exasperation after enduring repeated indifference, bias, incompetence and just plain injustice for more than 3 years since this nightmare began. The nursing university, the Ministry of Education, the Taipei District Court...all of them doing their utmost to hinder and frustrate my efforts for the truth and vindication. 

  In addition, with president Ma Ying-jeou's and his government's alleged determination to initiate judicial reform, I wanted to use my case as a test of their real resolve to improve and clean up the woefully deficient judiciary here, especially where it concerns foreigners.

  

I sent both this original English version and a Chinese version translated (very roughly) by Google Translator.

  This is the Judicial Yuan's stock response which clearly fails to adequately address nearly all the points and questions I raised in my complaint. It illustrates quite well the nearly 4 years of bureaucratic indifference, run-around and even bias I have faced again and again in Taiwan.

Note: As of sometime last year, the school changed its name to the National Taiwan University of Nursing & Health Sciences.  

Back To The Control Yuan

  In my blog post of Sept. 24, 2010 Some Answers I mentioned letters I had received from the Taipei District Prosecutor's Office and the Control Yuan. The letters were in response to complaints I had filed against the nursing university. I filed the same complaint with each body. Here is an edited copy (because a certain former VP of the school is a serial lawsuit filer) of the complaint:

 

 Here is the Control Yuan's confirmation they had accepted my complaint and were going to investigate it:

  

Here We Go Again!

  On Thursday, January 6, I was in the Taipei district court building to find out when I could finish copying the files of my civil lawsuit case. Apparently the staff misunderstood my reason for being there and she proceeded to tell me (in Chinese) "you're judge is gone."
  I thought I might have misunderstood what she said, so I asked the security guard standing nearby if he could help me and ask what the staff meant by the judge was gone. After some discussion, the guard explained that (supposedly) the judge in my case had "retired" four days earlier and so a new judge would be assigned to my case. It was deja vu! Lightning struck twice!
  For the second time in 2-1/2 years, the judge will suddenly be replaced and at the same point in the case as the first time - when the judge was due to make/announce his decision. It's also the second time the judge will replaced after I filed one or more complaints against the judge, including one this time specifically asking that the judge either allow me to testify or be removed and replaced.

  Just a coincidence...2 times?

  Here is a an edited copy of the complaint (written in Chinese by the staff from my explanation of the problems) I filed with the Control Yuan on November 10, 2010:

  I'll post an English translation of this complaint as soon as I can get it, and I'll be posting more documents from this 3-1/2 year saga. You'll see more clearly what kind of experience I've been through having to navigate this nightmare in a foreign language in a foreign country. Case documents, court hearings, more than 95% of everything related to the lawsuit and the administrative appeal have been in Chinese, putting me at a grave and perpetual disadvantage. Mostly I've only managed to get very cursory explanations of the documents and little more than that of the court proceedings, even the few times that an interpreter was present.
  According to the Control Yuan staff, this complaint was sent to the Taipei District Court and normally the Control Yuan will get a response to a complaint within 2 months of the date it was filed.  
  Here is a letter I sent to the judge and the Judicial Yuan in October 2010 before filing the complaint with the Control Yuan:  http://pow3hatan-warrior4justice.blogspot.com/2010/10/documenting-my-numerous-requests-to.html
  I'd like for all the documents I share on this blog to be available with English translations, so if there are any of you reading who can help or you know someone who could help with translations, please send your translation to or contact me at jugger3naut@live.com