The "Hsichih Trio," three men sentenced to death for a 1991 murder, were finally acquitted by the Taiwan High Court yesterday. It was a long-awaited piece of good news for the three men, their families and their lawyers.
However, for the relatives of the murder victims, Wu Ming-han (吳銘漢) and his wife, the acquittal stirred completely different emotions. The people they believed for 12 years to be the murderers have been acquitted, leaving in their minds the question, "Who are the real murderers then?" Both sides have suffered enormous damage in the lengthy judicial process.
In the grueling 12-year trial process, the victims' families, the defendants and their relatives have all suffered extreme agony. The case has also had a tremendous impact on Taiwan's judicial and criminal justice systems. Fortunately, increasing respect for human rights has prompted the judiciary to conduct a strict review of criminal evidence and acquit the death-row inmates upon finding no evidence directly implicating them in the murder case. This is an important step for criminal justice and human rights in Taiwan.
A cause for worry, however, is the gap between the principle of "discretionary evidence" practiced by the various levels of courts and police negligence in their investigation and in collecting evidence. The biggest problem with the Hsichih Trio case -- beginning with the police designating them as "suspects" -- was that the investigators relied too heavily on the suspects' confessions. The police were very sloppy in collecting evidence at the crime scene. Much evidence was destroyed or overlooked. As a result, when the investigators returned to the scene many years later -- after the defendants reversed their testimonies in the appeal court claiming they were tortured -- they were unable to find any new evidence to back up the indictments. Weak material evidence was the primary reason for the case dragging out for 12 years.
The enormous social pressure brought by the Hsichih Trio case prompted Taiwanese society and judicial agencies to argue for the rights of death row inmates. Taiwan has not reached a consensus to abolish the death penalty, but the Ministry of Justice has revised the Act for the Control and Punishment of Banditry (
The three men would have been executed by a firing squad long ago if not for the efforts of a group of kind-hearted people and their long, persistent calls for help. But how many suspects have had the good fortune to attract such widespread attention? The Hsichih Trio murder case has played a key role in the debate on capital punishment in Taiwan.
On Saturday, Illinois Governor George Ryan commuted the death sentences of 167 convicts just before he stepped down from the governorship. It was an expedient measure based on the respect for human life. Ryan's act has stirred up a major controversy, but it has also caused the US and the international community to rethink the appropriateness of capital punishment.
For the Hsichih Trio, late justice is not really justice. They have wasted the prime of their lives in jail and their lives have been almost completely destroyed. For them, judicial victory after such a long wait is a Pyrrhic victory that has not brought much satisfaction. For the victims' relatives, whether the Hsichih Trio were actually involved in the murders remains a question. Where are the real culprits? They are still waiting for an answer from the judiciary and law enforcement agencies. Taiwan still has a way to go on the road to justice.
Could Asia be on the verge of a new wave of nuclear proliferation? A look back at the early history of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which recently celebrated its 75th anniversary, illuminates some reasons for concern in the Indo-Pacific today. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin recently described NATO as “the most powerful and successful alliance in history,” but the organization’s early years were not without challenges. At its inception, the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty marked a sea change in American strategic thinking. The United States had been intent on withdrawing from Europe in the years following
My wife and I spent the week in the interior of Taiwan where Shuyuan spent her childhood. In that town there is a street that functions as an open farmer’s market. Walk along that street, as Shuyuan did yesterday, and it is next to impossible to come home empty-handed. Some mangoes that looked vaguely like others we had seen around here ended up on our table. Shuyuan told how she had bought them from a little old farmer woman from the countryside who said the mangoes were from a very old tree she had on her property. The big surprise
The issue of China’s overcapacity has drawn greater global attention recently, with US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen urging Beijing to address its excess production in key industries during her visit to China last week. Meanwhile in Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week said that Europe must have a tough talk with China on its perceived overcapacity and unfair trade practices. The remarks by Yellen and Von der Leyen come as China’s economy is undergoing a painful transition. Beijing is trying to steer the world’s second-largest economy out of a COVID-19 slump, the property crisis and
As former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrapped up his visit to the People’s Republic of China, he received his share of attention. Certainly, the trip must be seen within the full context of Ma’s life, that is, his eight-year presidency, the Sunflower movement and his failed Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, as well as his eight years as Taipei mayor with its posturing, accusations of money laundering, and ups and downs. Through all that, basic questions stand out: “What drives Ma? What is his end game?” Having observed and commented on Ma for decades, it is all ironically reminiscent of former US president Harry