Military criminal cases are increasing

NATIONAL SECURITY:
While in 2014 there were 867 cases that involved 1,096 people, last year there were 4,743 cases that involved 6,753 people, said the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office

• By Sam Garcia / Personnel writer, with CNA

The number of criminal cases involving military personnel have increased five times in the last 10 years, and national security contraventions has a significant impact, said the Supermus Prosecutor’s Office yesterday.

The mandatory military service was returned to a year for all men born after January 1, 2005, as of January 1 of last year.

The Supreme Prosecutor’s Office anticipates that this would cause an increase in military criminal cases that could influence national security.

Photo: Taipei Times

The office published a special report on prosecution strategies last month.

The data compiled by the Office of the High Prosecutors showed that there were 28,837 criminal cases that involved 41,520 military personnel from 2014 to last year, and the number increased annually, said the office of senior prosecutors.

There were 867 cases that involved 1,096 people in 2014 and 4,743 cases that involved 6,753 people last year, an increase of five times in 10 years, according to the data.

Of those cases, 55.6 percent involved fraud, drugs, assault, money laundering or gambling, 35 percent involved aggression or sexual murder, and 9.4 percent involved transgressions of military duties.

The prosecution rate was higher for those who transgressed their duties, contraveting the Anti -Corruption Law (犯貪污治罪條例), with 59 percent, the office said.

The prosecution rate for the contraventions of the National Security Law (國家安全法) was 46.7 percent, he added.

These cases included spying the state secrets, developing organizations and filming videos of psychological war, he said.

Although the number of these cases is not high, they had a significant and high range impact, he added.

China’s infiltration tactics have changed the senior officials to recruit common soldiers and even the public, the office said.

The office met with national and military security agencies to discuss how to respond to the growing criminal cases in the army, he said.

They developed nine main strategies, which include clearly defining the violations of military discipline, strengthening communication between prosecutors and military authorities, the management of military dropout cases better and helping victims to present complaints, the office said.

A strong army can guarantee a stable nation, the office said.

If prosecutors can handle military criminal cases with rigor and efficiency, it would prevent similar crimes from occurring, he said.

This would defend the discipline and military leadership, safeguarding national security, he added.