Taiwan's Judiciary: Corrupt & Selectively Cruel & Inhumane

  Some of you may be thinking that Zain Dean and I are just a couple of exceptions to what Taiwan's government likes to trumpet as a fair, impartial and just legal system. Nothing could be further from the truth of what really goes on in the island's legal sphere. Increasingly, egregious violations of defendants' legal and human rights are reported in Taiwan's media without any repercussions for those involved and without any tangible action by the government to rectify the situation.
  In a Feb. 21, 2013, Taipei Times editorial squarely aimed at both the judiciary and Taiwan president Ma Ying Jeou, the paper calls to task the government's lip service to "democratic values" and "protection of human rights." In a particularly pointed assessment of Ma's true regard for human rights, the editorial states:

 "Ma’s lack of humanity and respect for his predecessor has led some to wonder whether he truly keeps the meaning of “human rights” close to his heart and grasps the meaning embodied in the contents of the two international human rights covenants he has signed."

  You can read the full editorial here: The abuse of Chen's human rights 

  In fact, the only exceptions we may be are that we are two of very few expats (or Taiwanese) who dare to speak out publicly about the legal and human rights violations we have suffered at the hands of the island's nefarious judiciary. The extensive and long-running abuses that have plagued prosecutor's offices, the courts, and the police are regularly reported in Taiwan's news media and on some Taiwan and international websites.    
  However, little to nothing of any significance has been done by the government to remedy the myriad problems of corruption, cronyism, impartiality, ineptitude and ..... Equally shocking is that the public in Taiwan has largely remained passive for decades in demanding the necessary changes that would would protect them.
  Taiwan needs a lot more of this kind of voice, a Taipei Times reader who recently shared her dissatisfaction and disgust about Taiwan's lack of judicial integrity and it's shameful handling of former president Chen Shui-bian's corruption trials and corresponding inhumane and ill treatment he has suffered in jail for many years:

Tue, Mar 05, 2013  

[LETTER]

A-bian’s trials a disgrace

One of the hottest political topics surrounding the news media in Taiwan nowadays is whether former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) should be given medical parole from prison on the grounds of his failing health.

The fervor has been accentuated by a short video recently released by a member of the Control Yuan. In the video, we see a man walking with difficulty, handicapped, stuttering and with other debilitated motor skills.

We cannot believe this was once a two-term president of Taiwan, who was willing to say and do things that pissed off a former president of the US, and won himself notoriety as a troublemaker and other expletives unfit to be published.

The irony about Chen Shui-bian’s legal battle is that it would have been thrown out of court and ended long ago when Chen was still healthy had it occured in the US.

Of all the dirty maneuverings, either covert or overt, conducted by members of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Special Investigation Division throughout the trials concerning Chen and the subsequent charges of corruption and graft, none is as nefarious as coaching some of the key witnesses to perjure themselves to secure a conviction.

During one of the trial proceedings, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) overtly sought to influence the judges in charge by telling them that rendering a verdict in favor of Chen would conflict with the public’s expectations.

This shocking and unabashed disfranchising of judicial integrity in Taiwan has totally eroded the people’s confidence in its judicial system.

A rotten to the core judicial infrastructure, which can be manipulated at will, undoubtedly alarmed the British man [Zain Dean] who recently ruffled legal feathers in Taiwan by escaping the clutches of the judiciary by illegal means.

Such is the disgraceful state of the judicial system in Taiwan and there is not much hope of Chen being granted medical parole when the president himself, a graduate of Harvard Law School, takes the lead in making law and order a travesty.

Yang Chunhui
Utah

Judicial Deja Vu

  As I read back through more and more news articles about the Zain Dean case, I have an overpowering sense of deja vu. The often-times inappropriate, prejudicial and heavy-handed ways Dean's case was handled by the courts, the prosecutor's office, the media, plus the Taiwan public's insatiable appetite to see a foreigner convicted and jailed, has been reminiscent of the way my own case was little more than exercise in style over substance - a comical show put on to give the appearance of due process and true justice that in reality are nearly as elusive in Taiwan as they are in it's close neighbor China.
 On paper and in it's propaganda, Taiwan's judiciary professes to adhere to due process and the Rule of Law, but in practice due process is subservient to the personal views, biases, connections and loyalty to certain patrons of too many judges. If you've ever spent enough time in a Taiwan court (or prosecutor's room), Rule of Law in actuality is Rule of the Judge-God - omnipotent, all-powerful, beyond all reproach...an additional adversary to overcome in an innocent person's quest for appropriate justice. 
  Although I was the plaintiff in my case against the National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Sciences, the succession of judges in Taipei District Court treated me virtually the same way Zain Dean alleges he was treated as the defendant in his vehicular murder case. The similarities and parallels in how our cases were (mis)handled and manipulated by the courts and other involved parties are numerous and indicative of a long-running and endemic deficiency in Taiwan's judiciary, particularly when cases involve foreign nationals.   
  As evidenced by the Zain Dean case, a very bad beat continues to go on with no positive change in sight. Taiwan's judiciary has many flaws that have been debated for years by critics and the government alike, but very little tangible improvement has been seen. In fact, it appears that the situation may be growing worse and the future looks bleak especially for any expat in Taiwan unfortunate enough to become involved in a legal case. 
  Here is another recent article about the Zain Dean case and a Taiwan TV news story in which Dean again proclaims his innocence:

  Girlfriend of UK fugitive detained
  Zain Dean calls reporters to proclaim his innocence

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

Foreigners in Taiwan: Beneath the Law and Human Rights

  For white-collar professionals like myself, Taiwan is already a very scary place when it comes to matters of Rule of Law, due process, human rights and human dignity when attempting to seek justice as a victim of a crime or defend oneself from false allegations perpetrated by a Taiwanese. For migrant workers such as domestic helpers and assemblers in factories, many in reality treated as "slaves", Taiwan's authorities and the judiciary are even harsher in denying even the most basic of legal and human rights to those accused of wrongdoing or who are merely witnesses detained to aid in an investigation. 
  What has happened in my 4-year legal and human rights nightmare is symptomatic of a much wider and pervasive problem with the treatment of all levels of foreigners who toil in the island's schools as teachers, in various business, academic and social welfare entities, and in the homes and factories throughout Taiwan.
  I'll write more in-depth about this in a later post. For now, here are two illuminating articles on just how Taiwan's authorities and judiciary continually violate the legal and human rights of those working in Taiwan:


Foreigners Being Unfairly Detained, Rights Groups Say

Foreigners Have Human Rights Too

02/09/12 Update: I've started a new blog entitled Giving Up a Life's Worth of Music, Movies and More For My Kids' Future
 

An Injustice to One is An Injustice to All Of Us

  The February 12, 2011, edition of the Taipei Times has a very good editorial on the extent of injustice in Taiwan and the title neatly sums up the guiding principle in my fight against the nursing university, the Ministry of Education and even the civil court: "Injustice For One is Injustice for All."
  For those of us teaching or doing other work here, the ugly hands of injustice reach all the way into the schools or other places of business we work in - in my case I was seized in their black grip starting with the manipulated administrative procedures of the nursing university, the cover ups and covering for by the Ministry of Education, the tag team intimidation of the prosecutor's office & the nursing university for 2 years, and reaching all the way up to the district court level in my civil lawsuit against the school.
  Here's the Taipei Times editorial: Injustice for one is injustice for all