President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) irked the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty yesterday by reportedly telling them he never said he was in favor of abolishing the death penalty.
“He said his position had always been that the public can discuss the matter and the public must come to a consensus on the controversial issue,” Wu Chih-kuang (吳志光), deputy convener of the association, said after meeting Ma at the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon.
Only the start of the meeting, when Ma made welcoming remarks, was open to the media. Wu said Ma stated his position after reporters left.
Wu said his impression was that Ma was in favor of abolishing the death penalty and that the administration was making efforts toward achieving that goal.
“I had originally hoped to hear him explain his position,” Wu said. “But he told us he is not a supporter of abolishing the death penalty.”
Wu said he was somewhat disappointed, but happy that Ma had made his position clear so there would be no unrealistic expectations. Wu said he would continue to push for abolition, although he did not expect the issue to be resolved overnight.
Ma said he hoped to deal with the matter by reducing the number of death sentences.
He has signed two UN covenants that suggest support for abolishing the death penalty, but it was not a legal obligation for the countries endorsing the conventions, the president said.
“The Republic of China government is fundamentally in accord with the two UN covenants and the Ministry of Justice has set a long-term goal,” Ma said. “We hope to narrow the gap between different groups so we can make a decision that everybody finds acceptable.”
Meanwhile, Minister of Justice Tseng Yung-fu (曾勇夫) said there was no timetable to execute the 40 prisoners now on death row.
He made the remarks while visiting Wu Tung-yen (吳東諺), the 24-year-old handicapped son of Wu Ming-han (吳銘漢), who was killed along with his wife Yeh Ying-lan (葉盈蘭) in their home in Sijhih (汐止), Taipei County, in 1991 in what later became known as the Hsichih Trio case. The two bodies had more than 77 stab wounds.
“I have conflicting views about the death penalty. I do not hope for the abolition of the death penalty, but on the other hand, I do not like revenge following revenge,” he told reporters.
“My ministry is paying more attention to consoling and help victims’ families,” he said.
The Hsichih Trio — Su Chien-ho (蘇建和), Liu Bing-lang (劉秉郎) and Chuang Lin-hsun (莊林勳) — are in the unique position of having been condemned to death, but are not behind bars.
Their case was the first to go through three extraordinary appeals, the first capital case to be granted a retrial, the first capital case where a verdict was changed to not guilty in a retrial and the first death sentence not to be carried out within a year.
When the Taiwan High Court reinstated the death sentence against them on June 29, 2007, the defendants were not detained.
The entire case against the men is based on their confessions, which were allegedly extracted by torture and which do not correspond on details of the crime.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
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