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

Taiwan's Judiciary: A Shock To The System

"From the beginning, it was always my intention to allow the legal process to take its course, with the aim of getting a fair and impartial trial, based on the principles of ROC law and correct legal procedure. In essence, I put my faith in the system and trusted that the truth would come out.
However, after almost three years of going through Taiwan’s court system, I was shocked and dismayed by the extreme bias with which I was treated, to the degree that I was denied the chance to defend myself fairly."

A Message From Zain Dean (February 1, 2013)

  This second paragraph of Dean's lengthy message, which appeared on Taiwanese.com, Forumosa and other Taiwan websites following news in January of his daring escape from Taiwan, echoes exactly my own naive reasons and beliefs that compelled me to take on the false accusations perpetrated against me by Alice Yang and the National Taipei University of Nursing & Health Sciences (國立臺北護理健康大學). 

  And just like Dean, as the agonizing weeks and months stretched into years, I saw the unabashed truth and horror that is Taiwan's shameful judiciary. Victimized and bullied by a corrupt and sociopathic clique of administrators and their cronies, and hamstrung almost completely by an inept, unprofessional and biased court, I suffered through a 4-year lesson in the harsh realities of (un)due process and the Rule of Men that dominate all facets of the legal processes on the island. 

  Reading his message and the accounts of his first trial, first appeal and final appeal brings back bitter memories of my own frustrations, shocks and dismay brought on by repeated violations of both international and Taiwan's own laws and legal procedures as well as of my human rights. Like Dean, I foolishly put my faith in the government's propaganda that Taiwan is a nation adhering to international standards of law, that Taiwan's laws protect the innocent and victims of wrongdoing, and that Taiwan respects the human rights of all. I trusted that the system would allow the truth and justice to prevail.

  From the sham handling of the nursing university's internal "investigation" and decision to the (mis)handling of my subsequent lawsuit against both Yang and the school, as I pursued my fight for the truth and justice it became more and more apparent that the ranks at all levels of my case had closed and it was an "us vs him" uphill battle that was stacked very heavily against me from the beginning - just as it has been against Zain Dean. 

  All too often in Taiwan's judiciary, the truth is twisted, manipulated or suppressed, and justice is stolen by the very people entrusted and empowered to uphold and use the law for the good of all deserving of its protections.
  Click on A Message From Zain Dean for the full text plus comments from readers.   

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

Injustice Rears It's Ugly Head AGAIN In Taiwan's Judiciary

  It's been such a long time! My time on the quiet has been much longer than I had planned, but it's been time well-spent tending to my work and life here in Saudi, chopping down the mountain of debt accumulated during the height of my legal battles against the dark forces of the National Taipei University of Nursing & Health Sciences, paying more attention to my role as the father of my two young sons, and keeping abreast of relevant news on the continued injustice of Taiwan's judiciary among other things. With some startling recent developments in the case of Zain Dean, a Briton convicted in Taipei District Court in July 2011 of manslaughter in the death of a Taiwanese man while allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol, it's a very good time to pick up where I left off by introducing his case as a more spectacular example of the prejudice, ineptitude, lack of professionalism and the farce of Taiwan's law enforcement and courts.
  Apparently fed up with being unable to prove his innocence and looking at a jail sentence increased to four years following his appeal of the original 2-1/2 year sentence, he managed to flee Taiwan late last year and is reportedly now in Switzerland, refusing to return to the island without an agreement from prosecutors there guaranteeing certain conditions including a re-trial.
  Here are four recent news stories reporting on some of the latest developments in the Zain Dean case:

  Ministry to ask Switzerland to arrest Zain Dean
  No deal to be cut with Zain Dean: prosecutors
  Convicted killer absconds
  British citizen goes on the run with fake passport

   

Digging Deep to Pull Myself Out of A Hole

  Tonight I opened up my own web domain (my first) and started a new blog dedicated to trying to erase the mountain of debt that accumulated throughout most of my 4-year-long battle for human rights and justice in Taiwan. Not only am I seeking donations to help me get squarely back on my feet so I can take proper care of my innocent two young sons who have also suffered from this nightmare, but I am also going to give something back to as many as I can for their kind assistance...and pay it forward too.

  You can find my new blog at Giving Up a Life's Worth of Music, Movies and More For My Kids' Future 

Time For Renewal and Coming Back to Life

  It’s been quite a while since my last post but I’m still here and still going to be sharing more of the nightmare of Taiwan’s injustices against foreigners.

From time-to-time throughout this long-running saga, I’ve needed to take a break from writing and posting materials to handle things going on in the rest of my life and/or to give myself a necessary psychological and emotional rest from recalling the many unpleasant and stressful events of this story.  

  During this current hiatus from blogging, the most significant thing I did was to travel back to Taipei in December for a week to see the newest joy in my life – my second son who I hadn’t seen for 8 months since I moved to Indonesia. The impact of Alice Yang and the nursing university’s evil fraud has been far-reaching - even blackening what should have been a much happier event when my son was born last January. Instead, unnecessary complications between my son’s mother and I have kept us apart, and for financial reasons I had to find work outside of Taiwan last year in order to stop the financial bleeding I endured for years in Taiwan. To make more progress in cutting down the mountain of debt I’ve accumulated in the past 4 years fighting the evil and injustice in Taipei, I’ve had to sacrifice being with my young son and seeing him grow up most of the first year of his life.

  The precious time in December with my younger son and reflecting on my role so far in his and my first son’s lives have brought me to some important realizations and inspired me to re-evaluate what I’ve accomplished since they were born and what I must do from here on. The nursing university fiasco and subsequent events the past 4 years have cast me far out of the stable, positive direction my life had been tracking prior. Seeing the innocent joy and existence of my one-year-old son, playing with him, and imagining all that lies ahead for him and my 11-year-old boy inspired me to some crucial, and in some ways difficult, decisions to try and pull myself out of this 4-year-long funk and get back to who I once was and what I know I can be as a good, loving father to my sons.

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

Not Even Marriage & Family Escape Injustice in Taiwan

  In yet another sterling example of how Taiwan's authorities so often disregard foreigners' legal rights and how decisions are made in a vacuum - lacking common sense, decency, compassion or adherence to international principles of human rights - here is a September 2011 story from the island's press about scores of international marriages in Taiwan blighted by the heavy-handed and callous treatment of the foreign spouses by the National Immigration Agency and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Quite often in matters involving foreigners, the authority's (mis)handling of their cases involves elements of politics as much as institutional and/or personal bias against non-Taiwanese.

Dealing with a misguided MOFA 

Two Nursing University Staff at The June 4, 2007 Activity Deliver Their Supporting Statement

New document

FROM: Curt D

TO: 周艾琳

Sunday, October 7, 2007 7:43 PM

Dear Adeline,

  Hi. Hope you and your family survived the typhoon okay. I am fine although I had to deal with a leaking roof for some hours Saturday - there's an extension built onto my apartment and some areas leaked during the worst part of the typhoon so I had many buckets, containers and towels set up to catch the water until it stopped in the early evening.

  I have attached a document with a description of what happened the day of the activity at which the student accused me of touching her. It was written by Liju and Cherry who were working at the activity all day. Please read it and later I will call you and you can tell me what they said. Don't mention I let you read this as Liju and Cherry do not know you have been helping me. I have kept all of you in confidence from others helping me!

Regards,

Curtis

Re: New document

FROM: 周艾琳

TO: Curt D

Sunday, October 7, 2007 9:31 PM

Dear Curtis,

This was a serious typhoon. You were not the only one who had to deal with the leaking matter.  Our apartment in the dormitory and our hot spring apartment in Bali had the same problems, but fortunately, the situations were not so serious. I am so glad that it was gone. 

Please find the attachment which I translated into English and hope you can understand. I would not let anyone know the content of this document and will not talk to anybody.  

I am sorry that I did not shorten the Chinese title of the enclosed document. Please do it if you want.

Adeline

96年4月期間因學校辦理教學卓越計畫成果展，展示會場設置國際村，要求本校外籍人員提供其母國食物於展示會場進行義賣。因次本校校長與研發長請Curtis協助規劃食物義賣活動並於活動當日(6月4日)至北科大提供服務。

During April 2007, because of the coming exhibition of Excellence Project on 4^th June, the College requested our foreigner staff to prepare any foods from their motherland. Our principal and the chairperson of Research and Development asked Curtis to develop the foods and the charity bazaar.

為了當日國際村食物義賣活動，通識中心英文組招募幾位工讀生，其中包括楊雅惠，協助準備活動前與當日義賣活動。活動前為了食品海報製作，楊雅惠同學負責製作食品營養說明之海報美工部分。

In order to prepare the charity bazaar, the Office of English Teaching Group recruited some working students to help in the Exhibition. Alice Yang was in charge of designing the nutrition poster of the foods in this activity.

活動當日，工讀生們與研發處工作人員(方仁華、林莉如.等人)在展示會場進行會場佈置與義賣。約10點，Curtis 到達會場，協助食品義賣。期間，校長與其他長官曾到攤位巡視。期間，楊雅惠同學與Curtis有簡短的對話。中午吃飯時間約11點半，Curtis 與方仁華和楊雅惠比鄰而坐，並且楊雅惠同學與Curtis有閒聊一些話題。因方仁華要兼顧攤位，因次並未詳加注意閒聊內容。用餐完畢，約12點，校長、學校同仁與教育部長等多人再次巡視攤位，並且校長等人至攤位內了解義賣情形，並要求工作人員主動出擊，將食物端出攤位，游走於活動會場進行食品試吃。因此所有工作人員開始將食物分盤並端出給會場學生與參觀者。而後，因Curtis 當日下午有課必須返回學校授課，因此約在12點半時離開攤位。而後，其他工作人員，包括所有工讀生、方仁華與林莉如繼續在攤位上進行時食品義賣與清理會場，直到展覽結束約5點。

On that day, Cherry, Liju, and other working students were decorating the stand and preparing the charity bazaar. About 10 am, Curtis arrived and helped sell the foods. About the same time, the principal and other supervisors made their rounds among the stands. During this moment, Alice Yang and Curtis were making small talk. Since Cherry had to watch over the stand, she didn’t pay attention to the content they were talking about. After finishing lunch, about 12 o’clock, the principal and colleagues, and the supervisors from the Ministry of Education made their rounds again and asked all staff to bring the foods out of the stand to the exhibition for trial. Later, Curtis had to leave for his afternoon class on campus, and he left about 12:30 pm. The rest of the staff kept working until 5 pm.

從上午10開始到下午5時之食品展示活動，所有工讀生與研發處工作人員皆努力招攬客人進行食品試吃，並無任何異樣，也未接獲任何工讀生有不適或抱怨的訊息。

From 10 am to 5 pm, during the exhibition, all the working students and staff of Research and Development worked very hard to solicit and did not see anything strange or weird, and had never heard any complaint from working students.

林莉如 
Liju

擬

方仁華

Cherry 

  You can read my statement of what happened at the June 4 exhibition here:  

  Recollections For the Court of the Events of June 4, 2007