EN Version

Forty death row inmates might be executed
2010/05/29

The Constitutional Court on Friday rejected an application for a constitutional interpretation submitted by a group advocating the end of the death penalty, paving the way for the execution of the 40 convicts on death row. The first ones could be killed as soon as next week after four executions took place in late April — the first since December 2005.

代表圖片/插圖
English
內容標籤(舊)
單元分類(舊)
Justice minister meets with anti-death penalty group
2010/05/21

Taipei, May 21 (CNA) Minister of Justice Tseng Yong-fu met with an anti-death penalty group for the first time Friday to discuss capital punishment, which has become a hot-button issue since Taiwan's execution of four death-row prisoners last month.
代表圖片/插圖
English
內容標籤(舊)
單元分類(舊)

EDITORIAL : Few checks, little balance

Monday, May 17, 2010, Page 8, Taipei Times

For decades, Taiwan struggled along without a key lodestone of a true democracy — accountability in the form of checks and balances between the five branches of government, between the various government agencies and between the government or the legislature and the public. Taiwan’s democracy has languished in a kind of never-neverland, where few, if any, politicians and leaders are held accountable for their words and actions, except for the occasional scapegoat.

代表圖片/插圖
English
內容標籤(舊)
單元分類(舊)

International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) / Taiwan Association for Human Rights (TAHR)
Press release (中文版本請按此 )
Taiwan/Death Penalty

Resumption of Executions a Major Step Back

May 4, 2010, Paris-Taipei – The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the Taiwan Association for Human Rights (TAHR) strongly condemn the executions carried out by the government on April 30th, 2010 of Chang Chun-Hong, Chang Wen-Wei, Hong Chen Yeow, and Ke Shi-Ming. These executions are the first since 2005 and came before the Grand Justices could review three petitions filed by the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty (TAEDP). The first petition dated April 16th 2007 was requesting a constitutional review of the cases of 14 death row inmates who did not have legal representatives in their third trials. The other two petitions, submitted respectively on March 29th and April 15th 2010, argued serious flaws in the penalty measurement procedure and violation of the right to life, after Taiwan ratified the ICCPR in March 2009.

代表圖片/插圖
English
內容標籤(舊)
單元分類(舊)
Protest Against The Ministry of Justice’s Illegal Executions
Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty (TAEDP) Press Release May, 1st, 2010

Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty (TAEDP), Judicial Reform Foundation (JRF), Taiwan Association for Human Rights (TAHR), Amnesty International Taiwan (AI Taiwan), Taiwan Labor Front, Human Rights Committee of the Taipei Bar Association, Regional Tibetan Youth Congress Taiwan, Taiwan Green Party and Humanistic Education Foundation together handed a letter of protest to the Ministry of Justice on May, 1st to remonstrate with the Minister of Justice, Tseng Yung- Fu, about the cursory order to execute four death row prisoners. Amnesty International (AI) published a news release to denounce the Taiwanese government for resuming executions and stated that this move has seriously damaged Taiwan’s human rights record.

The Minster of Justice, Tseng Yung-Fu, signed the orders for the executions, killing the four death row inmates, Chang Chun-Hong, Chang Wen-Wei, Hong Chen Yeow, and Ke Shi-Ming, in the space of just over an hour on April 30th. Their families weren’t informed and they were not able to meet the four men for the last time before they died.
代表圖片/插圖
English
內容標籤(舊)
單元分類(舊)

Courts must presume innocence

By Chang Chuan-fen 張娟芬
 

TAIPEI TIMES
Wednesday, Apr 07, 2010, Page 8

2003 was a year of many accomplishments in the field of judicial reform in Taiwan. In January, the case of the Hsichih Trio, which had been stuck in the courts for years, took a dramatic turn as the accused were found not guilty. In February, the newly amended Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法) was promulgated and came into effect in September, formally incorporating the presumption of innocence into the articles of law. 

代表圖片/插圖
English
內容標籤(舊)
單元分類(舊)

EDITORIAL : Global trend to abolish death penalty

TAIPEI TIMES
Monday, Apr 05, 2010, Page 8

Regional economic integration is a global trend, as is building 12-inch fabs in China and breastfeeding. These are all topics that government officials and businesspeople have recently rushed to support.

In one area, Taiwan was not just following a global trend; it was a trendsetter, at least in Asia: Since the end of 2005, Taiwan has had a de facto moratorium on legally sanctioned execution and the Taiwanese government - both the current administration and its predecessor - announced its long-term goal to be the abolition of capital punishment. To that end, the number of crimes punishable by death was reduced and mandatory death sentences ended. The Ministry of Justice had been preparing to abolish the death penalty next year.

代表圖片/插圖
English
內容標籤(舊)
單元分類(舊)
AI hopes for wide debate in Taiwan on death penalty
The essence of 2010 AI report is the global trend to abolish death penalty

By Dennis Engbarth, Taiwan News, Staff Reporter, Page 4, 2010-04-01 12:00 AM

http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1216734&lang=eng_news&cate_img=49.jpg&cate_rss=news_Society_TAIWAN   

A representative of the London-based human rights organization Amnesty International hopes that Taiwan can hold a wide - ranging public debate on the question of the abolishment of the death sentence, but added that Taiwan's international image would be harmed by a resumption of executions.
代表圖片/插圖
English
內容標籤(舊)
單元分類(舊)

Open letter to the Minister of Justice of Taiwan

Mr. Tseng Yung-fu

Paris-Taipei, 26 March 2010

Re: The death penalty in Taiwan

Excellency,

We are writing to you further to your statement of March 22, quoted in the Central News Agency, regarding the application of the death penalty in Taiwan.

代表圖片/插圖
English
內容標籤(舊)
單元分類(舊)
A simple 'yes' or 'no' answer just isn't enough
Chiu Hei-yuan(瞿海源)
2010-03-30 / Taipei Times
 

Tuesday, Mar 30, 2010, Page 8 On capital punishment, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has said that "We will gradually narrow the scope of capital punishment to minimize violations to human rights." One main reason he is unwilling to abolish capital punishment is that a majority of the public opposes doing so.

Ma says abolishing the death penalty is a long-term goal, but that it is not currently supported by mainstream public opinion. Minister of Justice Tseng Yung-fu (曾勇夫) says he does not have any preconceived ideas on the issue and that he will listen to public opinion before coming up with complementary measures in response.

代表圖片/插圖
English
內容標籤(舊)
單元分類(舊)

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - EN Version