The Executive Yuan's Military Injustice Petitions Committee (MIPC) has handled 182 cases since its establishment on August 29, 2013, concluded deliberations on 38 and is currently working on 60 others, convener Tsai Yu-ling said today.
In addition to receiving petitions submitted to the agency's office or reported to it by telephone, the MIPC has also initiated a number of investigations itself. Of the 182 cases it has processed, 98 were within its jurisdiction, as they involved the death or disappearance of a soldier in active service; the other 84, which were not, were transferred to other agencies.
Of the 38 cases on which conclusions were reached, seven were transferred to prosecutorial authorities for further examination; 15 were rejected—seven exceeded the 20-year statute of limitations, and eight had already been presented to prosecutorial offices by the victims' family members, making committee intervention unnecessary—and the other 16 were closed after no evidence of criminal activity was found.
Media reports that the MIPC rejected 51 out of the 52 petition cases (98 percent) filed to it on the day of its establishment are untrue, the Executive Yuan said.
In response to victims' family members' concerns over the MIPC rejection of cases involving substitute service personnel and those exceeding the 20-year limit, the committee stated that as stipulated in Article 1 of its establishment and operational enforcement rules, it may only administer cases involving soldiers who died or went missing during active service, and according to Article 25 of the Act of Military Service System, substitute servicemen are not soldiers in active service. Cases exceeding the 20-year period, meanwhile, have already surpassed the statutes of limitations for both civil and criminal suits, so even if the MIPC transferred them to the prosecutorial authorities, lawsuits about them could not proceed.
The MIPC comprises 15 members: four government officials, four academics or experts, four representatives of human rights and social justice groups and three lawyers recommended by the Taiwan Bar Association. Their names and occupations are as follows:
Government officials:
- Minister without Portfolio Tsai Yu-ling (convener)
- Political Deputy Minister of Justice Wu Chen-huan (vice convener)
- Administrative Deputy Minister of National Defense Shen I-ming
- Executive Yuan Legal Affairs Committee Chairman Chen Ter-shing
Academics/experts:
- Professor Wang Yeong-tsyr of National Taiwan Normal University's Graduate Institute of Social Work
- Associate Professor Wang Huang-yu of National Taiwan University's College of Law
- Professor Chen Rong-chwan of National Taipei University's Department of Law
- Associate Professor Yang Yun-hua of National Chengchi University's College of Law
Representatives of civic and social groups:
- Forensic expert Shih Tai-ping
- Former Director Lee Chao-huan of the Foundation of Women's Rights Promotion and Development
- Chairperson Lin Chun-jung of the Legal Aid Foundation
- Chen Pi-e (also known as Mother Huang), founder of the Association for the Promotion of Human Rights in the Military
Attorneys at law:
- Lin Jhih-jhong
- Hsu Chao-ching
- Edgar Chen