2011-01-15 03:24:08frank

[海峽兩岸] 台灣與中國司法水準不分軒輊




台灣的法官輕判惡狼,而中国的法官判逃繳高速公路過路費的常業犯無期徒刑。

去年台北有一場「925白玫瑰運動集會」 ,我還收集當時的新聞在我的log [義憤] 司法配不上純潔的孩子--「925白玫瑰運動集會」裡,近來台灣又有法官法的相關新聞,看來相關的機關又是一堆虛應。紐約時報登了一則在中国因為長期逃費,逃漏了約55萬美金過路費的駕駛,被判處無期徒刑與三十萬美元的罰鍰。當然就跟台灣的法官有「女童證詞無法證明被告違反其意願」這種高明的見解一般,中国的法官當然不是因為逃漏過路費被判處無期徒刑,而是因為「藐視法律」這等重罪--畢竟長期逃繳高速公路過路費無疑是「嚴重地藐視法律」。




January 13, 2011
Life Sentence for Chinese Driver for Evading Tolls
By ANDREW JACOBS

BEIJING — Like most drivers around the world, Shi Jianfeng did not like to roll down his window at toll booths. In fact, Mr. Shi, a farmer from Henan Province in central China, was so averse to toll collectors, he evaded more than $550,000 in road fees during eight months of highway driving, according to the provincial court that convicted him.

But his punishment, life in prison and a $300,000 fine, has provoked a firestorm in the media and among Chinese who have accused the government of imposing a draconian sentence on a man trying to make ends meet in these inflationary days. “Rape and murder will earn you 15 years in prison but evading road charges will get you life,” said one typically cynical posting on Tianya, a popular message board. “Ours is a miraculous country with peculiar laws.”

Chinese legal scholars said it was the first time toll evasion had earned a scofflaw a life sentence.

There seems to be little dispute that Mr. Shi, who had turned to hauling sand and gravel to make a living, behaved egregiously. He purchased two fake military license plates and other documentation that allowed him and his hired drivers to escape paying tolls on his two trucks during 2,300 trips between May 2008 and January 2009. In announcing the verdict this week, The Dahe Daily suggested that the defendant had accepted his guilt because he declined to appeal.  He also did not have a lawyer.

But the financial details of the violations for which Mr. Shi was convicted only served to feed suspicions that he had been railroaded. The toll per truck trip averages more than $200 — a high figure, though truck tolls can go by weight.

But many people noted that his profit during those toll-free days amounted to $30,000. If he had truly evaded $556,000 in road fees, as the police charge, he would have lost more than $520,000 from his trucking business.

The local judiciary was so unnerved by the uproar that it took the unusual step of holding a news conference this week to explain Mr. Shi’s transgressions in detail.

The explanation, however, did little to assuage public anger.

assuage  /ə'swedʒ/  to make an unpleasant feeling less severe 緩和,減輕(不快)

In a commentary he wrote Wednesday in the Beijing News, a lawyer, Xu Mingxuan, said that if the official numbers were to be believed, the greater crime was that Chinese drivers were subjected to exorbitant tolls. “Such figures only highlight the people’s suffering,” he wrote.

exorbitant   /ɪg'zɔrbətənt/ adj.    of a price 價格 much too high 過高的;高得離譜的

With private car ownership soaring in China, the episode seems to have stoked mounting aversion to the tolls that have grown along with the nation’s rapidly expanding highway network. The county has been adding tens of thousands of miles to its highway system, and the vast majority operate with user tolls. A World Bank report in 2007 estimated that mile for mile, Chinese toll rates rivaled those in Germany, where incomes are far more extravagant. One of the capital’s more unpopular highway tolls, for example, is the $1.50 charged for access to the 12-mile highway to Beijing’s international airport. (That roadway’s operators are expected to earn eight times their initial investment, according to government figures.)

Popular aversion to such fees has been inflamed by media reports of freeloading government motorcades and inflated tolls that end up in the pockets of local officials. In 2008, the country’s National Audit Office said that motorists had handed over $2.3 billion at illegally erected tollbooths.

In a commentary on Wednesday, The Yangcheng Evening News in Guangzhou suggested that those who set toll rates, not Mr. Shi, should be punished for onerous fees that added to the ever increasing cost of food and other goods. “Fraud is despicable,” the paper wrote, “but who’s scamming whom?”

onerous  adj. needing great effort; causing trouble or worry 費力的;艱巨的;令人焦慮的
despicable  adj. very unpleasant or evil 令人厭惡的;可鄙的;卑鄙的
scam  v. a clever and dishonest plan for making money 欺詐;詐財騙局


Li Bibo contributed research.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/14/world/asia/14china.html


2010.9 的民調



嗆恐龍法官 925上街頭  曾香蕉發起白玫瑰運動 號召10萬人
2010年 09月06日 蘋果日報

【專案組、賴心瑩、毛嘉慶╱台北報導】連續兩起法官輕判女童遭性侵案,引發逾28萬臉書網友及兒少團體怒吼「開除恐龍法官」,網友組成的正義聯盟不滿司法院、總統府摸頭式被動回應,並未真正傾聽民意、正視司法弊端,決定發起「白玫瑰運動」,號召十萬民眾,於本月25日齊上北、高街頭哀悼司法已死。
哀悼司法已死

兩件荒謬判決,一是男子林義芳性侵6歲女童,檢方求刑7年10月,高雄地院卻以未違女童意願輕判3年2月;另一則是男子吳進益性侵3歲女童,最高法院認定女童哭喊「不要」無法證明違反其意願,發回更審。

正義聯盟發言人Eva昨說,司法院雖已建議法務部修訂《刑法》,擬將性侵7歲以下幼童重判7年以上,但民眾要的是「自省式修法及真正傾聽民眾聲音」,且馬英九總統至連署活動近3周才有回應,「槍殺角頭的廖國豪落網,一句教育害了他,總統3天就回應,平民百姓比不上嫌犯?」

Eva強調,白玫瑰代表孩子純潔天性,恐龍法官卻讓刺都刺在父母心頭;他們採柔性訴求,「手持白玫瑰、不喊口號、不舉白布條,悼念司法已死。」已有近3萬名網友回應會上街,8成都是女性及有小孩的家長,「一群曾遭性侵的女性當天也會出席。」聯盟總召曾香蕉說:「我們都是草根人物,只能透過這種方式才會受重視。」

對此,司法院祕書長沈守敬昨說:「婦團及各界聲音我們很清楚,未來《法官法》會有完善的法官淘汰機制。」法務部政務次長陳守煌則說:「法務部得從學理、法理及類似案件吸取經驗,才能將法修的更完善。」判決引發爭議的高雄地院、最高法院昨低調不表示意見。記者昨聯繫不上承審該兩案的8名法官。

http://tw.nextmedia.com/applenews/article/art_id/32791966/IssueID/20100906




The stories were taken from the websites of The New York Times and Apple Daily at the URL stated underneath each article.  The copyright remains with its original owners.