An amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法) approved by the Judicial Yuan could infringe on the right to a fair trial, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators said at a news conference at the legislature in Taipei yesterday.
The amendment — which was submitted to lawmakers by the Executive Yuan in March — would limit Taiwan High Court and Supreme Court reviews of an appeal to issues of law, effectively making district court judges the sole arbiters of the facts in criminal cases.
This proposed system, dubbed “the pyramid model of litigation” by officials, was written to increase lower courts’ access