Hsieh Chao-he et al. filed a petition with the Constitutional Court pertaining to a final and binding adverse ruling issued in accordance with Article 79–1, Paragraph 5 of the Criminal Code (based on the version amended on November 26, 1997 or that amended on February 2, 2005 and implemented on July 1, 2006) and Article 7–1, Paragraph 2 and Article 7–2, Paragraph 2 of the Enforcement Law of the Criminal Code. The petitioners sought constitutional interpretation, a constitutional conformity review, and constitutional rights remedies. On December 19, 2023, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) appointed vice chairperson Tsai Chung-yi to testify in court as an expert witness on the constitutionality of the aforementioned laws.
According to the NHRC, the current system of laws requires convicts to serve out the remainder of their prison sentences following a parole violation, without giving any consideration to factors such as pre-parole behavior, social readjustment, risk of recidivism, and the corrective effect. A fixed sentence can lead to long-term imprisonment, which marks a departure from the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and may constitute a violation of Article 3 (torture) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Furthermore, pursuant to Article 7 (no punishment without law) of the EHCR, inmates are entitled to the most beneficial treatment when a law that requires life imprisonment is repealed or amended or a provision on serving remaining sentences when parole is revoked is amended.
To strengthen human rights safeguards in criminal prosecutions, the NHRC urges the competent authorities to review and amend the relevant provisions in the Criminal Code to align with international human rights standards.