Justice Minister Laments Prosecutor Abuse of Power Case|檢座率警闖幼兒園 法務部長痛心.不齒

Abusing authority should never be tolerated. According to reports, a Hualien District Prosecutor was upset that his daughter was being bullied at school, and took the criminal police with him to the school to handle the issue privately. Justice Minister Tsai said this case grieved him, and the actions of public prosecutors will be strictly scrutinized in the future. Meanwhile, the Judicial Reform Foundation also calls for the system to phase out unsuitable prosecutors to undergo a comprehensive reexamination.


According to reports, a Hualien District Prosecutors Office prosecutor named Lin Jun-you went to his daughter's kindergarten twice with plainclothes criminal police to investigate whether she was being bullied. He ended up frightening many of the school's teachers and students. He has since been prosecuted, and this case has also been sent to the prosecutor evaluation committee. Justice Minister Tsai Ching-hsiang said he was very grieved when he learned about this abuse of power by a public prosecutor.

We feel very grieved and regretful, as well as very ashamed, because how could a public prosecutor abuse authority in this way? Prosecutors rectify people, and they need to be righteous themselves. We will not only send this case to the evaluation committee, but also impose administrative punishment.

Tsai added the words and actions of prosecutors will be strictly scrutinized in the future. Meanwhile, the Judicial Reform Foundation believes the Ministry of Justice needs to conduct a comprehensive reexamination of the existing system to phase out unsuitable prosecutors. For example, the prosecutor evaluation committee has examined 57 cases in its six years of existence. However, it has only disciplined 23 prosecutors. Moreover, there is a time limit in which cases must be brought before the committee.

The effective prosecutorial evaluation period is extremely short, at only two years. Many times, the two-year period has already passed when people ask for evaluations after sentencing.

The foundation says the Judges Act requires the Ministry of Justice to evaluate all prosecutors every three years. There have already been two rounds of evaluations, but not a single prosecutor was sent to the committee. This shows the entire system is ineffective. The foundation warns it will be impossible to carry out judicial reforms without improving the system to phase out unsuitable prosecutors.