<AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL
>: Research demonstrates that the
death
penalty is
often
applied in a
discriminatory
manner,
being used
disproportionately
against the
poor,
minorities
and members
of racial,
ethnic and
religious
communities.
The death
penalty is
often
imposed
after a
grossly
unfair
trial.
Scientific studies have consistently failed to
find convincing evidence that the death penalty deters crime
more effectively than other punishments.
At June 5, 2015, The EU ( the European Union)
calls on the authorities in Taiwan to introduce an immediate
moratorium on executions as recommended by international
experts in March 2013 following Taiwan's first human rights
report, and as observed in Taiwan from 2006 to April 2010.
In 2014,
EU expressed regret
over Taiwan's death penalty again following executions (FocusTaiwan
& BBC, 5.1.2014). Taiwan's human rights groups
questioned Taiwan's execution this time with political
purpose (trying to shift the focus on
the signing of the service
trade agreement with red China, and nuclear factory issue).
Taiwanese people don't quite trust judicial
system,
National Chung Cheng university's survey
(head-page of the Liberty Times, 2-23-2016) found:
more than 84% Taiwanese people don't
believe judges, nearly 80% Taiwanese
don't believe
the impartiality of
Taiwan's prosecutors, and
public trust on Taiwan
judiciary system keeps falling down in
the past 8 years. According to
"2012 Taiwan Human Rights
Indicator Survey" (Dec. 4, 2012),
about 53.5 percent of the
respondents gave the protection of judicial human rights a
negative rating, compared with 21.4 percent who rated it
positively (<Taiwan News> Dec. 5, 2012).
Taiwan has executed
death penalty
(1) Taiwan follows public's views (not experts'
opinions) (2) Taiwan did not follow his commitment to
abolish death penalty (China Times, Dec. 23, 2012).
◎
|
Taiwan's former minister of Finance
(王建煊)
with the revealing title of "Best Minister of Finance in Asia" has a saying:
"Taiwan's politics
is a big dirt, 8 out of 10 politicians deserve death penalty, on the
whole nothing's wrong about it " .
Unlike ordinary
citizens, some politicians abusing their power, and intentionally, cruelly repeating
human rights persecutions
may deserve death penalty, or at least heavy
punishments.
The Hill, 2021-3-28: We (the US) will be
guilty of a similar crime against
humanity
if we stand by and watch slavery or murder happen to Taiwanese...
Similarly, some Taiwanese politicians will be guilty of a similar crime against
humanity
if they stand by and watch persecutions happen to Taiwanese
everywhere !
(according to
Transitional Justice Committee, Dec. 2020)
Worse than that, some Taiwanese politicians are suspected to commit
those persecution crimes.
|
◎
★
Apple Daily, 9-1-2018:
First execution under
President Tsai Ing-wen
. The United Daily (聯合報)、4-24-2018
: Death penalty
always is the key issue to influence Taiwanese people's
trust on judiciary, the government has not executed death
penalty for 2 years ....
★<Amnesty
International>
UK ,
2-22-2017
some positive
developments in
Three
longstanding death penalty cases but several violent
incidents sparked public calls for retaining the punishment.
◎
★<Amnesty
International>
UK ,
4-6-2016
In "EXECUTING COUNTRIES IN 2015" list, Taiwan ranks No.12.
(top 4 are CHINA, IRAN, PAKISTAN, SAUDI ARABIA) Amid public anger at the murder of an eight-year-old
girl in Taipei, the authorities carried out unrelated
executions even though in some instances the appeals
process had not been exhausted. The Minister of Justice
denied that the executions were carried out to assuage
public sentiment and stated they had been planned well
in advance.
◎
★
<Liberty Times>, <China Times>, toronto.singtao.ca
,
etc, 4.23.2016
Supreme Court : Death penalty is accordance with the provisions of the
Constitutions of ROC Taiwan, all judges should not take 2 conventions of human
rights as excuses, capital punishment is for " punishment ", not for
"enlightenment"/"education".
◎
★<Amnesty
International>
UK ,
6-5-2015
The execution of six
people in Taiwan today is a regressive decision that does not deliver justice,
Amnesty International said.
...“The public outrage at the horrific murder of
an innocent schoolgirl is totally understandable and the perpetrators of such
heinous crimes must face justice, but the death penalty is never the answer,”
◎
★
The EU ( the European Union)
,
6-5-2015 The
EU again calls on the authorities in Taiwan to introduce an
immediate moratorium on executions
http://eu-un.europa.eu/articles/en/article_16513_en.htm
Following the latest set of six executions
in Taiwan on 5 June 2015, the European Union recalls its opposition to
the use of capital punishment.
We recognise the suffering of the victims of the crimes involved and
express our sincere sympathy to their families. However, the EU
reiterates that the death penalty can never be justified and calls for
its universal abolition.
The EU calls on the authorities in Taiwan to introduce an immediate
moratorium on executions as recommended by international experts in
March 2013 following Taiwan's first human rights report, and as observed
in Taiwan from 2006 to April 2010.
◎
|
|
|
Motion condemning the use of the
death penalty in Taiwan, particularly the case of Chiou Ho-shun
Delegates of the FIDH 40th Congress,
10-25-2019
Recognize that the
Taiwanese government resumed execution of the death penalty in 2010
after a 4-year moratorium and the passage of the Act to Implement
the ICCPR & ICESCR in 2009.
Expressing deep concern
that the rights of Mr. Chiou Ho-shun, who has spent over 30 years in
detention, have been seriously violated. His access to a fair trial
was denied due to the loss of physical exhibits during trial,
without any opportunity of cross-examination of the witness.
According to the recentJudgment
of the Asian Human Rights Court Simulation (AHRCS)
on the Case Chiou Ho-shun v. Taiwan by the 7 Judges who were human
rights experts across the region, it ruled the Taiwaese government
violated Articles 7 and 14 of the ICCPR.
Note with grave concern
that the execution of the death row inmates living with
psycho-social disability violated a series of UN resolutions and
standards upheld in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities (CRPD). The Guideline of Execution on the Death Penalty
of Taiwan should be reviewed and revised to comply with the CRPD.
Note that three death row
inmates died in prison this year, including one through suicide. No
investigations have been carried out nor reports on these deaths.
Currently there are 39 inmates on death row, and no proper procedure
is in place for them to seek clemency. Every death row inmate has
been constantly under the pressure and risk of being executed at
anytime.
Note the fact that the
execution is carried out by a single gunman. The psychological
pressure and mental health of the executioner has not been taken
seriously by the authorities. The secrecy surrounding the execution
prevents the family members of the death row inmate from seeing him
or her for the last time.
Recall that, during the
FIDH 40th Congress in Taiwan, an FIDH international delegation
visited the Taipei Detention Center, where Mr. Chiou Ho-shu, has
been on death row for the past eight years and is awaiting
execution.
Call upon the Taiwanese
government to examine the human rights violations against Mr. Chiou
Ho-shun, and to provide proper remedies for these violations.
Call upon the Taiwanese
government to take necessary action to comply with Articles 6, 7,
and 14 of the ICCPR, and the latest released General Comment no. 36.
In the meantime, we strongly encourage the Taiwanese to impose a
moratorium on the death penalty until its abolition.
Call upon the Taiwanese
government to review the Guideline of Execution on the Death Penalty
and to revise the items which violate the Convention on the Rights
of persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
Call upon the Taiwanese
government to review the procedure of clemency, and to ensure the
effectiveness of the procedure.
Call upon the Taiwanese
government to investigate the social and psychological conditions of
the death row inmates, and to improve their treatment in detention.
|
★ The
United Daily News, Taiwan,
6-7-2015
Taipei mayor Ko stated
:
Justice should not be a
tool for politics, It's not civilized that carrying out the
executions reeks of political calculations by a government attempting to
gain points by quelling public anger. The eyes of
lady justice (Themis) should be masked -
Justice should be independent and fair, not be served as a political
tool to reflect public will.
◎
★<Amnesty
International>
UK ,
2-25-2015
AI's concerns
included Taiwan’s continued use of capital punishment,
prison conditions, etc.
It said little
progress has been made toward the abolition of the death
penalty as Taiwan continued to impose death sentences and
carry out executions. It also cited the
“overcrowding, unsanitary conditions and lack of adequate
medical care” in Taiwanese prisons and detention centers.
◎
★
National Chung Cheng university's survey
&
head-page of the Liberty Times, 2-23-2016
83%
Taiwanese people are against
the abolition of
capital punishment.
◎
◎
★
<BBC>(Chinese version
on the net), 4.30.2014,
<Focus Taiwan>, 5.1.2014death penalty
EU expresses regret
over Taiwan's death penalty again following executions
(5.1.2014). Taiwan's human rights groups questioned
Taiwan's execution this time with political purpose (shifts
the focus on
the signing of the service
trade agreement with red China, and nuclear factory issue).
Taiwan government
(Ministry of Justice) denied this.
◎
★
<BBC> , <Amnesty
International>
UK ,
Dec. 22, 2012
Taiwan has executed
six death row inmates, the first use of the
death penalty this year...
Campaigning human rights group
Amnesty
International has condemned the move as "cold-blooded
killing".
The executions - by shooting - "made a
mockery of the authorities' stated
commitment to abolish the death penalty",
Amnesty said in a statement.
"It is abhorrent to justify taking
someone's life because prisons are
overcrowded or the public's alleged support
for the death penalty," the statement said.
◎
★
<Amnesty
International>
UK , 2013
report
(
http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/taiwan/report-2013
)
Six men were executed –
all in December; 55
prisoners were awaiting
execution and had exhausted
all appeals. From December,
hearings of all death
penalty cases at the Supreme
Court were required to
include oral arguments on
sentencing and related
issues by both prosecution
and defence lawyers. The
panel of judges would then
also take into consideration
the opinion of victims’
families in determining the
sentence.
On
31 August, after 21
years of litigation, the
High Court reconfirmed a
“not guilty verdict” and
freed the “Hsichih
Trio”. Other death
penalty cases similarly
involving torture and
forced confessions
remained unresolved.
◎
★
French Ministry of Foreign , and European Affairs, Dec. 26, 2012
France has
condemned the execution of six
death-row inmates by
Taiwan ― A
statement issued by the French Ministry of
Foreign and European Affairs said Paris
“condemns the execution of six sentenced to
death in Taiwan [on] December 21, 2012."
France urged the
restoration of the
moratorium on capital
punishment observed in
Taiwan between 2006 and
2010 and called on the
country to “open a
national debate on the
future of the death
penalty.”... The
international human
rights group criticized
the Taiwanese government
for breaking its
previous commitments to
abolish the death
penalty and failing to
fulfill its
international legal
obligations under the UN
human rights covenants
of which it is a
signatory — the
International Covenant
on Civil and Political
Rights and the
International Covenant
on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights...
2 experts — Manfred
Nowak, a professor at
the University of
Vienna, and Eibe Riedel,
a member of the UN
Committee on Economic,
Social and Cultural
Rights — wrote to Ma
last month asking him to
guarantee that no
executions would be
carried out before their
visit.
◎
★ <Washington Post>,
USA, Dec. 22, 2012
...But Wang Chien-hsuen, head of the government
watchdog Control Yuan, said Taiwan should keep
capital punishment to maintain justice and public
safety. “Many people have advocated abolishment of
capital punishment to follow the international
trend, but we should have our own standards,” Wang
said. In a statement, human rights group Amnesty
International condemned Taiwan’s government for
“credibly claiming it wants to see an end to the
death penalty when it continues to conduct such
actions.”...
◎
★
<Amnesty International>,
<European Parliament> members,
Dec. 23, 2012 (rpt by <Taipei
Times>)
Taiwan has breached its commitments: EU
Taiwan came under pressure from the EU, European Parliament
members and Amnesty International, who said it has failed to
honor its commitment to end the death penalty after it
executed six death-row inmates on Friday, bringing the
number of people executed to 15 in the past three years,
following a more than four-year hiatus since late 2005.
In
a statement released via the European Economic and Trade
Office in Taipei ... the action “goes
against the abolitionist trend worldwide.”
The EU is opposed to the death penalty in all cases and
has repeatedly called on authorities to establish a legal
moratorium as a matter of urgency and to work toward
abolishing the death penalty.
Ashton said the EU recognized the suffering of victims
and their families when faced with terrible crimes and
expressed its sincere sympathy to them, but that it believed
that the abolition of the death penalty enhanced human
dignity and the progressive development of human rights.
The EU also opposes the use of the death penalty because
the sentence “does not serve as an effective deterrent” to
crimes, and because “any miscarriage of justice, which is
inevitable in any legal system, is irreversible,” Ashton
said.
Ashton called on the Taiwanese government to avoid
undertaking new executions, but instead to take concrete
steps toward reducing the use of capital punishment to allow
a de facto moratorium to resume.
Central News Agency reported from Brussels that Barbara
Lochbihler, chair of the Subcommittee on Human Rights in the
European Parliament, said that she viewed Friday’s
executions as a breach of Taiwan’s commitments.
★
<Amnesty International >, London,
UK, May
24, 2012
Taiwan handed down
more death sentences in 2011 than in any year in the past
decade, despite stating that its long-term goal was
abolition of the death penalty.
★
<Amnesty International >, London,
UK, May 13, 2011
Amnesty International's annual report
'The State of the
World's Human Rights 2011'
Taiwan was criticized over issues to
do with the
death
penalty, freedom of expression,
justice and migrants' rights.
Amnesty International Taiwan deputy secretary-general Yang Tsung-li
criticized the government, saying it used a lack of public consensus as an
excuse to uphold capital punishment.The executions last year were carried out
one day after a hearing on the issue, and the executions in March came less than
one month after Ma offered an apology to the family of Chiang Kuo-ching (江國慶),
who was found to have been wrongfully executed.
The report also criticized Taiwan’s government for what it said was its
failure to deliver on promises to amend the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) that
limits citizens’ rights to assembly and free speech.
It also voiced concerns over the slow progress to enact a judges’ act to
address corruption scandals involving high court judges and over the working
conditions of migrant workers.
◎
★
<United
Daily News> Taiwan
, Dec. 11, 2012
In Human
Rights Day, Taiwan's minister of Justice (法務部長)
: Taiwan definitely will execute death penalty
according to the law (won't be affected by international opinions), but does not
have time-schedule ...
◎
★
<the
Liberty Times>
, April 21, 2012
Taiwan Alliance to End the Death
penalty executive director said the saying about abolishing capital punishment
in Taiwan's first human rights report released yesterday is a lie in public
(公然說謊)...
◎
★
<the
Liberty Times>
, Dec. 11, 2012
DPP's Policy Research Committee: a recent poll
indicates that 67 % of Taiwanese are
dissatisfied with the government's protection of
judicial human rights. (司法人權),
64.9%
of Taiwanese are dissatisfied with
political human rights. (政治人權)...
◎
★<China Post>, Dec. 11
2012
DPP chairman: Taiwan
currently faces two major human rights crises: prosecutors that
abuse their powers to
persecute the people, ... a recent poll indicates that
62.3 % of Taiwanese are dissatisfied with
the government's protection of human rights.
◎
★
<Taipei Times>, Dec. 8, 2012
According
to a survey of public opinion by the government-affiliated Taiwan
Foundation for Democracy (conducted by Shih Hsin
University),...
Corruption was the target of the greatest public dissatisfaction, scoring 1.9
points. It was followed by the government’s ability to respond to people’s
needs, which garnered 2 points, and external interference
in judicial rulings, at 2.1 points.
◎
★
<Taipei Times>, Dec. 11 2012
The Democratic
Progressive Party: The erosion of human rights under KMT's
administration, in particular regarding the judiciary
and media, has placed Taiwan’s proud democracy in jeopardy and requires
attention from the international community...
◎
★
<Apple
Daily News>
, Dec. 5, 2012
Acording to "2012 Taiwanese Human Rights index
survey" (conducted by 中華人權協會), 17.9% Taiwanese think Taiwan's overall human
rights in progress, 36% think it is in retreat,
25.8%
Taiwanese think Taiwan's political human rights
in retreat, 17.1% think it is in progress,
38.4%
Taiwanese think Taiwan's
judiciary
human rights in retreat, 13.1% think it is in
progress.
◎
★
<Apple
Daily News>
Editorial, Mar. 6, 2012
In July,
2011, the Taiwan's Dept. of Defense already gave
penalty to those generals involving the Chiang Kuo-ching(江國慶) legal case
(The Air Force wrongfully executed a little soldier by
mistake or by intension to treat him as a goat), why
do they open this to the public till now? .....
It is
ridiculous that those officials and generals only
got minor punishments, e.g., major demerit, minor
demerit, defamation punishment ......,
top-positioned generals still can have veteran
pension paid by Taiwanese people's taxes.
It's particularly too ridiculous that those
officials had already retired, so those army's
punishments like major demerit, minor demerit, etc
are totally lost the function (useless) to them...
(ps: Chinese editorial :
...
江國慶冤案之慘已不必重複。但對他嚴刑拷打、屈打成招、畫押槍斃的軍官們，國防部的懲處是什麼？大家護好牙齒，說出來不要笑掉大牙。與案情有關的23人，從申誡一次到大過兩次不等，其中空軍總司令黃顯榮、作戰司令陳肇敏...等上將劊子手們，被處以申誡到記過不等的處分，退休俸不受影響。很好笑吧。更好笑的是這批傢伙大多已退役，現在搞什麼申誡、記過有個屁用，拿老百姓當白癡啊！......江國慶案的處分，就是欺瞞選民、欺負選民、不正直、不道德，勝之不武，不知羞恥……
)
◎
★
<Amnesty International >, London,
U.K.,
Mar 4, 2011
More than 70 people remain on death row in Taiwan.
Family members are not informed about scheduled executions in
advance. They learn about the executions afterwards when they are
invited to collect the body from the mortuary.
◎
★
<Taipei times>,
Mar 5, 2011
Five executions spark concern in EU, Germany
In a statement issued following the executions, EU High Representative for
Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton said she deeply regretted
the execution and urged Taiwan “not to undertake further executions.”
The German government also expressed concerns over the execution,
with Taiwanese Representative in Berlin Wei Wu-lien (魏武煉) being
summoned to the German Federal Foreign Office (AA), according to a
press release posted on its Web site.
◎
★
<Apple
Daily News>
Taiwan,
public
editorial,
Oct. 12, 2011
by Frederic Laplanche , Europe
