Cheng Chieh (鄭捷) — who killed four people and injured 22 in a stabbing frenzy on a Taipei MRT train in 2014 — was executed at 8:47pm last night at the Taipei Detention Center (臺北看守所), Deputy Minister of Justice Chen Ming-tang (陳明堂) said last night.
The Ministry of Justice signed the execution order at 5pm yesterday, and Cheng was executed with three gunshots at the center in New Taipei City’s Tucheng District (土城), Chen said.
Legal experts said the process must have been sped up and expedited by ministry officials, because it was an unusually short time — 18 days — between the Supreme Court upholding Cheng’s death sentence on April 22 and the execution taking place.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Cheng’s lawyers headed to the ministry last night following the announcement to protest against what they called a “rushed decision,” as they were still preparing to file an extraordinary appeal against the death sentence.
Some political commentators have questioned whether there might be a political motive for carrying out the execution so soon, saying that Minister of Justice Luo Ying-shay (羅瑩雪) and President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) are trying to calm rising discontent regarding recent judicial decisions.
When speaking to the media yesterday afternoon, Luo said she did not know when Cheng would be executed.
Cheng reportedly told the police directly after his MRT stabbing rampage that he hoped he would be given the death sentence for his crimes and said he had been planning a mass murder since he was in fifth grade.
Cheng said he was under great pressure from his parents and often contemplated suicide, but he did not have the courage to kill himself.
“I had to murder people so I would be convicted for murder and given the death sentence. Only then would my miserable life end,” Cheng reportedly said.
CALL FOR SUPPORT: President William Lai called on lawmakers across party lines to ensure the livelihood of Taiwanese and that national security is protected President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday called for bipartisan support for Taiwan’s investment in self-defense capabilities at the christening and launch of two coast guard vessels at CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard in Kaohsiung. The Taipei (台北) is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels, and the Siraya (西拉雅) is the Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) first-ever ocean patrol vessel, the government said. The Taipei is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels with a displacement of about 4,000 tonnes, Lai said. This ship class was ordered as a result of former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) 2018
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
WARFARE: All sectors of society should recognize, unite, and collectively resist and condemn Beijing’s cross-border suppression, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said The number of Taiwanese detained because of legal affairs by Chinese authorities has tripled this year, as Beijing intensified its intimidation and division of Taiwanese by combining lawfare and cognitive warfare, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) made the statement in response to questions by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Puma Shen (沈柏洋) about the government’s response to counter Chinese public opinion warfare, lawfare and psychological warfare. Shen said he is also being investigated by China for promoting “Taiwanese independence.” He was referring to a report published on Tuesday last week by China’s state-run Xinhua news agency,
‘ADDITIONAL CONDITION’: Taiwan will work with like-minded countries to protect its right to participate in next year’s meeting, the foreign ministry said The US will “continue to press China for security arrangements and protocols that safeguard all participants when attending APEC meetings in China,” a US Department of State spokesperson said yesterday, after Beijing suggested that members must adhere to its “one China principle” to participate. “The United States insists on the full and equal participation of all APEC member economies — including Taiwan — consistent with APEC’s guidelines, rules and established practice, as affirmed by China in its offer to host in 2026,” the unnamed spokesperson said in response to media queries about China putting a “one China” principle condition on Taiwan’s
RSS