EXTREME WARNING to Tourists and Expats visiting Taiwan
Greetings-
Please do be extremely careful if you are visiting or staying in Taiwan.
I have good reason to believe the Taiwan legal system and local police precincts are seriously corrupt “OR” terribly ineffective in protecting the rights of innocent tourists, innocent expats, and innocent victims of crimes.
Facts:
I am an American citizen who recently graduated from an American law school. I was recently attacked in Taipei on August 11th, 2018 while on vacation. I immediately called the Wanhua district local police, and the criminal who attacked me was arrested. The criminal who attacked me was charged with committing a crime. While waiting at the police station for the paperwork, the father of the criminal appeared at the police station to “bail out” his son and seemed to be “especially good friends” with the police chief at the Wanhua police precinct. The father of the criminal threatened me that if I pressed charges against his son, then he will personally cause me “much trouble.” In retaliation for pressing charges against the son, the father pressed charges against me for defamation against his son (Defamation is considered a crime in Taiwan for ruining someone’s reputation). Since “defamation” is a crime in Taiwan and not a civil matter like in America, I could not leave the country of Taiwan! I was forced to extend my stay in Taiwan for another 120 days+ to defend myself against the frivolous “defamation” charges. In America, the retaliatory lawsuit the father filed against me for defamation would be considered a "frivolous lawsuit,” and the police would not allow it (A frivolous lawsuit is any lawsuit that is filed with the intention of harassing, annoying, or disturbing the opposite party. It may also be defined as any lawsuit in which the plaintiff knows that there is little or no chance of the lawsuit succeeding if pursued in court).
A couple of weeks later, when I appeared in court to defend myself from the frivolous defamation charges, the prosecutor told me they never received the case I filed against the criminal who attacked me. I had to go back to the Wanhua police station, and I found out they had “lost” the case file for the criminal who attacked me. I had to refile the entire case against the criminal who attacked me. While I was attempting to refile the case at the police station, the police officers at the Wanhua precinct continued to attempt to “actively persuade” me not to file the case by telling me to “let it go.” I finally had my attorney on my mobile phone speak to the officers. My attorney made a direct request to the officers to refile the case, yet the police officers were still reluctant to file the case. My attorney and I were both scratching our heads at this “curious unorthodox reluctant behavior” displayed by the police officers to refile a case because police officers are supposed to “always be neutral.” Finally, another set of officers refiled the entire case and also “mysteriously” found the original case file with a yellow piece of paper stapled on it somewhere in the office. The new set of officers scratched their heads as to why the original case file was not sent to the prosecutor as it should have been sent a month ago before the frivolous defamation case should have been sent.
Another couple of weeks later, I appeared in court again to prosecute the criminal who attacked me. Inside the court room, I discovered the criminal had “hired” a “fake witness.” The “fake witness” was never there at the scene of the incident, yet the “fake witness” said he saw everything, and the “fake witness” committed “blatant perjury” and lied to the prosecutors stating his “friend” did not attack me at all (Perjury is an offense of willfully telling an untruth in a court after having taken an oath or affirmation). The prosecutor started to “poke holes” into the fake witness’s stories when the “fake witness” could not answer simple questions as to distances and whether the criminal was to the left or right of me. However, I was shocked to discover Taiwan procedural laws would allow “blatant perjury” to be committed by “fake witnesses” and allow it to be entered into evidence. Even more shocking was the court system assigned a super young attorney to represent me who was fresh out of college and this was one of his first “real” cases, and he failed to make any objections to any of the “fake witnesses’” testimony. Further shocking, I discovered the entire court procedure was in mandarin with no English translators present despite me being an American citizen.
There is a serious problem with the lack of English translators in the Taiwan legal system that are required by law to be present in America during any serious interrogations because of due process concerns. I barely speak any mandarin, and I cannot read any Chinese characters. There were no translators present at the police station or during the prosecutor interviews. Because of the lack of English translators present during the police station and the prosecutor interview, the recording of my testimony suffered many translation problems that eventually led to the prosecutor “dropping all charges!?” against the criminal who attacked me. The prosecutor blamed it on the testimony being “inconsistent” when the real problem was the “translation” issues.
I am an innocent tourist who has suffered from a violent crime that a Taiwanese citizen has committed against me, yet the Taiwanese legal system has failed to protect me, failed to bring justice, and was even used to further harm me. The father of the criminal who attacked me used the Taiwanese legal system to further harm me by being able to file “frivolous criminal defamation charges” against me in retaliation for calling the police against his criminal son. This is an extremely terrible and dangerous loophole in the Taiwan legal system. Taiwan criminals can use this loophole to entrap you for filing charges against them. I was forced to stay in Taiwan for almost 120 days+ to fight the “frivolous defamation charges.” Now, I have been attacked “twice” by that criminal, and I was “forced” to stay in Taiwan for 120 days+.
I have wasted eight months (8-11-18 to 3-25-19) handling the legal cases from the date of the incident to the date where I received letters from the prosecutor stating nothing can be done, and no appeals would be accepted because of translational issues.
Although, the prosecutor eventually “dropped all charges” against me for the “frivolous retaliatory defamation claim” filed by the angry father of the criminal, I was forced to stay in Taiwan for 120 days+ to defend myself against the “frivolous retaliatory defamation charges” for doing what any reasonable person would after being attacked: call the police and press charges against the criminal who attacked you.
Hence, I have good reason to believe the Taiwan legal system and local police precincts are seriously corrupt “OR” terribly ineffective in protecting the rights of innocent tourists, innocent expats, and innocent victims of crimes.
Please do be extremely careful if you are visiting or staying in Taiwan.
All the best.
-M
