Ko and three other defendants detained and held incommunicado
Ko and three other defendants detained and held incommunicado
2025-01-03
Former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je and three other defendants have been detained and will be held incommunicado, in the latest turn of events in the corruption case. The Taipei District Court’s decision comes after the Taiwan High Court rejected two earlier rulings to grant them bail. The Taipei District Court says there is a risk that the defendants will try to flee and engage in evidence tampering and collusion. The detention has been heavily criticized by the Taiwan People’s Party.
Ko Wen-je, Sheen Ching-jing and two other suspects are escorted to the vehicle bound for the detention center. At a third bail hearing on Thursday, the Taipei District Court in a reversal ordered that all four suspects in the case be detained and held incommunicado.
The court said that Ko and the other suspects were involved in serious offenses, and there was a high risk that they would try to flee. In addition, there was enough evidence for the court to believe that the defendants could engage in evidence tampering and collusion. Sheen’s defense attorney says the reasons for the ruling are unacceptable.
Yueh Fang-ju
Sheen Ching-jing’s attorney
The first judge received instructions to issue a detention order. We respect the interests of judicial hierarchy, but is this how it’s supposed to be used? How come the court has passed completely different rulings based on the same evidence?
Huang Kuo-chang
TPP acting chair
The stance and position of the same single presiding judge in the High Court did a 180 degree turn. Did that happen because the defendant is Ko Wen-je? It raises questions about whether judicial justice still exists in Taiwan.
The Taiwan High Court had called for repeated hearings based on evidence presented by prosecutors. Before the case came to light, in May, Ko had messaged Peng Cheng-sheng who is also implicated in the legal battle. In August Ko had many message exchanges and meetings with Sheen, who also kept in communication with Ying Hsiao-wei, Chen Chun-yuan and Wu Shun-min. During the investigation, Ying was found to have deleted record of her conversations with Sheen and other defendants. In addition, Lee Wen-tsung had instructed Lee Wen-chuan via a messaging app to delete financial records of MuKo Public Relations Marketing, a company associated with Ko. All these are among the reasons cited for the defendants’ detentions.
Liu Wei-ting
Lawyer not involved in the case
The reasons provided by the Taiwan High Court are more specific this time around. In fact, they seem to be assisting prosecutors. There is a very high possibility that the defendants could use the internet to communicate and collude while being apart from each other. The situation is that of a higher court, the Taiwan High Court, giving less room to a lower court, the Taipei District Court, to grant bail to Ko Wen-je.
According to the Code of Criminal Procedure, detention of an accused may not exceed three months during trial. If the defendant is facing a sentence of at least 10 years, detention extensions can be requested six times, and each extension may not exceed two months. That is to say, the Taipei District Court can obtain up 15 months of detention. How long Ko and the other defendants will be held is yet unknown, but what’s for sure is that they’ll spend the Lunar New Year in the detention center.
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柯文哲等4人羈押重回看守所 北院認有滅證.串供之虞
2025-01-03
歷經三次的羈押庭，柯文哲、沈慶京等四人，確定重回看守所，民眾黨代理主席黃國昌無法接受，質疑台灣是否存在司法正義？但台北地院所裁定的理由，和高院發回更裁的原因，有諸多相同，包括柯文哲、李文宗等人，確實透過通訊軟體聯繫，加上所涉重罪，有滅證、串供和逃亡的可能。
柯文哲、沈慶京等人，陸續被帶上囚車，準備前往看守所，北院三開羈押庭裁定，四人全都收押禁見。
北院第三次的羈押庭，會裁定將柯文哲等人收押，是認為四名被告所涉的都是重罪，加上有逃亡的可能，並有足夠的事實認為，他們有湮滅證據、或有串供之虞。但這樣的理由，讓辯方委任律師無法接受。
[[沈慶京委任律師 越方如]]
“第一個法官的作為叫做奉命羈押。尊重審級利益，審級利益是這樣用的嗎？為什麼證據資料完全一樣的狀況之下，會做出完全不一樣的判決？”
[[民眾黨代理主席 黃國昌]]
“同一個高等法院的審判長，他的立場跟態度，竟然會出現180度的轉彎，還是因為今天的被告是柯文哲？他關涉的是台灣到底還存不存在司法正義。”
從過去檢方所提供的證據，加上高院發回重裁時，都強調案件爆發前，柯文哲曾在5月傳訊息給彭振聲，8月跟沈慶京密集傳訊、碰面，沈慶京也與應曉薇、陳俊源、吳順民相互通聯，應曉薇更在偵查期間，刪除跟沈慶京，以及同案被告的對話紀錄，還有李文宗也透過通訊軟體，指示李文娟刪除木可損益表，這些都是羈押的原因之一。
[[非本案律師 劉韋廷]]
“這次高等法院發回的理由，更加的具體，甚至有點是助攻北檢，目前以網際網路通訊的方式，來做隔空串證的機會也是很高的，等同於高等法院由上級機關，指揮下級的地方法院，讓地方法院很難有空間，再讓柯文哲有交保的可能。”
依照刑事訴訟法規定，一審羈押被告，不得超過3個月，如果涉犯刑期10年以上重罪，延押六次為限，每次兩個月，也就是說，台北地院的審理期間，最多只能押15個月。柯文哲等四人，會被押多久，還是未知數，但恐怕得在看守所裡過農曆年。
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