Taipei Times
Date: Jan 17, 2018
By: Jason Pan  /  Staff reporter

A group representing the nation’s judges condemned Chen Shih-meng (陳師孟), who was yesterday confirmed by the legislature as a Control Yuan member, saying that he had threatened the judiciary during the nomination process and that he would undermine judicial independence through political interference.

“Chen did not hide his personal stance of using the power of the Control Yuan to pervert judicial independence… It will be a disaster for the nation’s justice system,” the Judges Association of Republic of China said in a statement.

“Because Chen disagreed with past court decisions, he implied he would use his authority to investigate and purge the judges who did not make rulings conforming to his political ideology,” the statement said. “He was clearly making threats against the judiciary. Our association wishes to express our anguish and disappointment.”

Chen “must not employ his political ideology in exercising his authority to censure and impeach government officials found to have violated the law. He must not use this power to attack, persecute, or take revenge on political opponents, or to fulfill his personal political ambitions,” it said.    [FULL  STORY]