Illustrated criminal records of Taiwan’s former parliamentary candidates Zhu Zhengqi questions sentencing before trial

In response to the local elections at the end of the year, "Taiwan Forward" produced the "2026 Legislative Candidates Criminal Records Illustrated", which includes all cases whether they have just been prosecuted, are still on appeal, or have been sentenced. Zhu Chengqi, an independent candidate for the North City Council who was indicted in a communist espionage case, said today (17th) that the principle of "presumption of innocence" is equally important, criticizing Taiwan Advance for confusing "prior records" with "criminal cases that have not yet been decided", which can easily lead to prejudgment without trial.

Zhu Zhengqi said that he supports voters’ right to know, but the principle of “presumption of innocence” in criminal proceedings is equally important. The "criminal record" of a candidate for district chief in Neihu should be exposed. At least it is a record that has been determined by a court decision. Of course, voters have the right to know. It is a pity that the so-called "criminal records" released by Taiwan Advance mainly include cases that have not yet been decided, and even some cases that have not even officially begun the trial process are published together.

He said that these cases are inherently public information and there is nothing that cannot be discussed openly, but the problem is not "whether it can be made public", but this: when political groups deliberately confuse "prior records" with "criminal cases that have not yet been decided", and the parties involved in these cases happen to be candidates participating in the election, the result is easily the stigma of "judgment before trial".

Zhu Zhengqi pointed out that many netizens left messages praising Taiwan's forward candidates for being "clean and honest." But many people who are suffering in criminal proceedings are also waiting and longing for the day when justice can "clear their names." However, in the end, all the judiciary can give is a "not guilty verdict." An individual's innocence may have been worn away bit by bit in the long process of investigation, prosecution, trial and public opinion. The stigma and label of pretrial judgment in society will not disappear automatically just because of the final not guilty verdict.

He believes that this is not just a matter of one candidate. What is needed is the improvement of the overall social concept of the rule of law and our willingness to truly respect the basic human rights of the parties involved in criminal proceedings. Before the court determines the guilt, we should not directly equate "defendant", "being prosecuted" and "involved in the case" with "guilty".

He also quoted the content of Chapter 8, Verse 7 of the Gospel of John in the Bible, where Jesus said: "He who is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." He said that only by truly being there can one deeply feel that it is easy to throw a stone away, but a person's reputation, life and innocence are by no means so easy to recover.