Minister of Justice Luo Ying-shay (羅瑩雪) is to be subpoenaed to the Control Yuan for questioning over the execution of a death-row inmate as Control Yuan member Lee Ful-dien (李復甸) said that the execution may have been carried out in violation of due process.
Lee said yesterday that he would establish a case about the execution of Liu Yen-kuo (劉炎國) to investigate possible irregularities involved in steps that ended up depriving him of the right to have his case go to the Supreme Court for a retrial.
Luo and Acting State Prosecutor-General Lin Jie-der (林偕得), chief prosecutor of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, will have to come under investigation over the case, Lee said.
Photo: Chien Lee-chung, Taipei Times
“There could be irregularities surrounding the execution because the appellate process appears to have not been completed before Liu was put to death,” Lee said.
Liu was among five death-row inmates executed on Tuesday, the fifth series of executions since President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) took office in May 2008, which brought the number of prisoners executed to 26 after Taiwan had observed a de facto moratorium on executions between late 2005 and April 2010.
Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智), Liu’s lawyer, has said that Liu could have been wrongfully convicted of the murder of a woman in a casino robbery he and Wu Lee-jen (吳李仁) committed in 1997 in Greater Taichung, although Liu admitted that he shot dead a man in the same case.
The latest request for an extraordinary appeal for Liu’s retrial was filed at 4pm on Tuesday after Chiu visited Liu at about noon that day to discuss details of the request, Chiu said.
Chiu said that they pinned hope on incoming state prosecutor-general Yen Da-ho (顏大和), whose appointment was recently confirmed by the legislature to lead the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, that Yen might be willing to consider Liu’s request and that is why he went to visit Liu right after the confirmation.
Saying that he was surprised to learn at about 6:30pm on Tuesday that Liu had been executed, Chiu cast doubt on the legitimacy of the execution and questioned why he was put to death before the Ministry of Justice received the document from the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office informing the ministry of its ruling on Liu’s request.
Chiu said that he received a copy of the rebuttal statement from the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office on Wednesday morning and the letter was postmarked 7pm on Tuesday.
The Ministry of Justice had rejected Chiu’s claim and said that the ministry received the rebuttal statement from the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office at 5pm on Tuesday.
According to Chiu, the appellate process was only considered to be completed when the original rebuttal statement was delivered to Liu.
“It was a seven-page rebuttal statement. How could the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office review the request, put out the rebuttal statement and deliver it to Taichung Prison within one hour?” Chiu said.
Meanwhile, the Taiwan Association for Innocence said that carrying out the execution before Yen’s inauguration on Thursday not only deprived the prisoners of their right to appeal for a retrial of their case under the new leadership of Yen, but also infringed Yen’s right to reconsider the cases.
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
NO CONFIDENCE MOTION? The premier said that being toppled by the legislature for defending the Constitution would be a democratic badge of honor for him Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday announced that the Cabinet would not countersign the amendments to the local revenue-sharing law passed by the Legislative Yuan last month. Cho said the decision not to countersign the amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) was made in accordance with the Constitution. “The decision aims to safeguard our Constitution,” he said. The Constitution stipulates the president shall, in accordance with law, promulgate laws and issue mandates with the countersignature of the head of the Executive Yuan, or with the countersignatures of both the head of the Executive Yuan and ministers or
BACK TO WORK? Prosecutors said they are considering filing an appeal, while the Hsinchu City Government said it has applied for Ann Kao’s reinstatement as mayor The High Court yesterday found suspended Hsinchu mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) not guilty of embezzling assistant fees, reducing her sentence to six months in prison commutable to a fine from seven years and four months. The verdict acquitted Kao of the corruption charge, but found her guilty of causing a public official to commit document forgery. The High Prosecutors’ Office said it is reviewing the ruling and considering whether to file an appeal. The Taipei District Court in July last year sentenced Kao to seven years and four months in prison, along with a four-year deprivation of civil rights, for contravening the Anti-Corruption
RSS