September 18-24
China
The Supreme People’s Court, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Ministry of National Security jointly released amended rules governing the release of criminal suspects on bail. The revised Regulations on Certain Issues Relating to Obtaining a Guarantor Pending Trial (关于取保候审若干问题的规定) make release on bail for eligible defendants mandatory rather than discretionary. Officials held a press conference to explain the revisions. The pretrial detention rate in China reportedly fell to 53% in 2020 from 96.8% in 2000.
The Intermediate People’s Court of Changchun in Jilin Province sentenced former Vice Minister of Public Security Sun Lijun to death with a two-year reprieve for taking bribes, manipulating the stock market, and illegally possessing firearms. He also was accused of disloyalty to the Communist Party and of leading a political clique. After the expiration of the two-years reprieve, his sentence will be commuted to life imprisonment, with no possibility of commutation or parole. Days earlier, five other former top security officials linked to Sun’s case also were sentenced. Among them were former Ministry of Justice Fu Zhenghua and Wang Like, the former head of the political and legal affairs committee in Jiangsu Province, who received the same sentence as Sun.
Hong Kong
A Hong Kong man was arrested under the colonial-era sedition law for playing a protest song on a harmonica to a crowd waiting outside the UK Consulate to sign a condolence book for Queen Elizabeth II. The man played the British national anthem and “Glory to Hong Kong,” the anthem of the 2019 protests.
Ronson Chan, chair of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, was charged with obstructing police officers while reporting. He was initially arrested for refusing to provide ID and behaving in an “uncooperative” way while reporting on a home owners’ committee meeting. Chan said he was within his rights to ask police for identification before he produced his. Chan was released on bail.
A tenant rights advocacy group urged the Hong Kong government to strictly enforce the amended Landlord and Tenant Ordinance, which took effect on January 22, 2022. The law bars rent increases for subdivided apartments for two years and limits increases thereafter; it also makes it illegal to overcharge for water and electricity. An advocacy group said the government has only inspected around 460 such apartments, and has not launched any prosecutions under the new law, which it said was a “paper tiger.”
Japan
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York and said they will continue efforts to resolve the issue of compensating Korean laborers forced to work for Japanese businesses during World War II. In 2018, the South Korean Supreme Court ordered several Japanese companies to make compensation and said their assets in South Korea could be seized and sold if necessary.
The Tokyo Bar Association conducted an online survey of more than 2,000 persons with “foreign roots” and found that about 60% reported being questioned by Japanese police during the past five years. Such encounters were more frequent for those with African or Latin American backgrounds. The bar association plans to submit written suggestions to government ministries for ending racial discrimination.
Koreas
South Korea’s Supreme Court proposed tougher measures against accused stalkers, such as restraining orders and supervised release, in response to public anger over the recent murder of a young woman by a longtime stalker. The case triggered accusations that South Korean authorities are still failing to take violence against women seriously. An anti-stalking law was passed last year that allows stalkers to be punished with up to three years in prison, but police must get explicit consent of the victim to make arrests. Critics say stalkers pressure their victims into dropping their complaint, and that few suspects have been detained.
A local court in Wonju, South Korea, exonerated a 69-year-old man who served prison time decades ago for having escaped from the notorious Samcheong Reeducation Camp set up under the military regime of Chun Doo-hwan. In 2018, South Korea’s Supreme Court ruled that the martial law order establishing the camp was unconstitutional. The military regime sent about 40,000 civilians to the camp under the pretext of restoring social order; some died from beatings and harsh treatment.
Taiwan
The Judicial Yuan announced that local judicial administrations have compiled lists containing the names of 131,990 people who may qualify as citizen judges to hear criminal cases starting January 1, 2023. Local courts will conduct further screening and vetting before the citizen judges are formally notified. Under the Citizen Judges Act (國民法官法), six citizen judges and three professional judges will sit as a panel to hear criminal cases that could result in prison terms of at least 10 years or that involve intentional acts leading to homicide.
Taiwan’s Cabinet approved a draft amendment to the Prison Camp Act that seeks to tighten the rules on the eligibility of prisoners for transfer to minimum security facilities. Cabinet spokesperson Lo Ping-cheng (羅秉成) described the minimum security prisons as halfway houses for incarcerated persons to prepare to reenter society. Those convicted of major crimes may not eligible. The proposed amendments will be sent to the Legislature for review.