After throwing out three special appeals and several requests for retrial, Taiwan's judiciary yesterday approved a retrial for the so-called Hsichih Trio -- Su Jian-he (
In a written decision, a three-judge panel of the High Court gave its reasons for approving the retrial based on new evidence found in the nine-year-old case.
Police arrested the three youths one day after the March 24 1991, murder based on information given by a friend of the trio, Wang Wen-chung (
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
It was on the basis of his claim that police charged Wang Wen-chung, Su and Liu, who had been with Wang Wen-hsiao the night before the murder.
The older Wang, then serving in the army, was convicted and executed in 1992. His younger brother was convicted of theft and served 32 months in prison.
Su, Liu and Chuang were found guilty and became known as the Hsichih Trio. The three entered prison at age 19 and have been on death row for almost five years.
According to human rights groups, their prosecution relied on confessions extracted under dubious conditions, including brutal torture by police.
The trio's original trial had admitted the prosecution's use of a small purse -- which was seized at Wang's residence after the murder -- as evidence.
However, in requesting the retrial, the defense counsel presented to the High Court with two police reports which stated that the purse was stolen by Wang Wen-hsiao from the couple a month before the murder.
Citing the defense's arguments, the High Court acknowledged the two police reports were evidence which existed at the time of the original trial but went unnoticed by the court.
"The evidence was ignored in the original trial, but it could have altered the result of the original judgement on factual problems," read the High Court written decision.
With the retrial approved, executions of the trio would be halted and a new trial would entail a situation where the High Court considers an appeal on conviction of the three by the district court.
However, there are mixed feelings about the court decision among those close to the three death-row inmates.
"In one way we're glad to see the judiciary was courageous enough to face the case, which is widely perceived as a misjudgement under a criminal procedure full of flaws," said Ku Yu-jane (顧玉珍), secretary-general of the Taiwan Association for Human Rights.
"But, I feel we shouldn't be too optimistic about the retrial because the judges who determined that the three men were `dead guilty' are still part of today's judiciary," Ku said.
"We don't know how many years the new trial will take or whether the three can carry on, because their conditions are worsening."
"I don't know what there is to be happy about. They're innocent and the court should have let them out from the beginning," said Su Chun-chang (
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