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Military prisoners transferred to
civilian prisons
By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
Prison vans carrying several
convicted military officers leave the military prison in Greater Tainan in the
early hours of yesterday morning to be transferred under police and military
police escort to civilian prisons around the country.
Photo: Huang Chih-yuan, Taipei Times
A total of 259 military prisoners and
detainees were sent from a military prison in Tainan to 11 civilian prisons
across the country yesterday as hundreds of military criminal cases were
transferred to civilian courts, marking the end of the military judiciary era.
The unprecedented transfer was carried out after an amendment to the Code of
Court Martial Procedure (軍事審判法) was passed by the legislature last week and
promulgated by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on Tuesday, which transferred the
jurisdiction of military criminal cases from the military to the civilian courts
beginning yesterday.
Under the escort of military and local police, the transfer began at dawn
yesterday and was completed by noon, with inmates transported by buses from
Greater Tainan’s Lioujia District (六甲) to various prisons, according to the
Ministry of Justice.
The ministry said that except for 11 inmates who were on medical parole or
currently under investigation at other facilities, 243 of the 254 prisoners in
Tainan military prison, the last military prison in operation, were transferred
successfully, Deputy Minister of Justice Chen Ming-tung (陳明堂) said, adding that
16 detainees in military detention centers were sent to civilian facilities as
well.
The transfer drew attention because of several convicted high-ranking military
officers, including former navy captain Kuo Li-heng (郭力恆), who was jailed in
connection with the Lafayette frigate kickback scandal in the 1990s, and former
army general Lo Hsien-che (羅賢哲), who was convicted for spying for China.
A total of 177 cases which were still being investigated by the military
judiciary were also transferred to various civilian courts, including the death
of army corporal Hung Chung-chiu (洪仲丘).
The Hung case was transferred from the Military High Court to the Taoyuan
District Court, the justice ministry said in a press release.
Ting Yu-yin (丁俞尹) was assigned as designated judge in charge of the case, with
Hung Chi-hsiung (洪吉雄) the presiding judge and Hsu Chin-hua (許菁樺) the
accompanying judge, the ministry said.
Separately yesterday, while meeting with the press during his diplomatic visit
to Paraguay, the president said that transferring military inmates to civilian
prisons is part of the government’s efforts to facilitate military reform, with
more issues to be discussed in the future.
Further measures will be implemented following the amendments to the Code of
Court Martial Procedure, he added.
After he returns from the trip, the Ministry of National Defense and the MOJ
will issue further reports, including whether a special military court should be
established to handle crimes committed by military personnel in wartime, Ma
said.
When asked whether the military’s morale had been affected by mounting criticism
in the wake of Hung’s death, Ma said he had instructed army officials to boost
the confidence of their troops and maintain their dignity.
Additional reporting by Mo Yan-chih
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