The Transitional Justice Commission is by October next year to create a national “transitional justice database” that would collate data on political cases during Taiwan’s authoritarian era and facilitate efforts to identify perpetrators and accomplices who violated human rights, a commission source said yesterday.
“Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) was not the only perpetrator,” said a commission member who declined to be named.
With more than 2 million pages of political files from the Martial Law era, time is transitional justice’s greatest enemy, which necessitates a database that could help clarify accountability among culprits, the member said.
The Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau has promised to transfer political files from the Martial Law era to the commission, the member said, adding that a large number of files are stowed in Cingsi Park, a former training ground for Taiwan Garrison Command cadets that still contains a statue of Chiang.
Files gathered by the bureau showed that “highly developed institutionalization” and “party-state” rule are the two main themes of human rights atrocities during the Martial Law era, the member said, adding that the National Archives Administration is in talks with the National Security Bureau to publish classified files.
Meanwhile, the Armed Forces Reserve Command has agreed to turn in files from the Taiwan Garrison Command which it oversees, while the Ministry of Culture has agreed to deliver files that belonged to the former Government Information Office, which was responsible for state propaganda and limiting freedom of the press during the Martial Law era, the source said.
The families of victims want the government to stop shunning questions about the perpetrators, and the database, which would be publicly available, would enable them to contextualize the atrocities, the member said.
Those who made arrests, performed surveillance missions, presided over military courts, changed sentences and carried out executions should be held accountable, the member said, adding that then-chief of general staff Chou Chih-ju (周至柔) and then-garrison commander Peng Meng-chi (彭孟緝) were known accomplices of Chiang.
To achieve a full understanding of the “system of perpetrators,” the commission is collecting historical files and has given the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) an Oct. 8 deadline to turn in Martial Law-era files in its possession, the member said.
“Once historic facts are established, perpetrators can be held accountable,” the member said.
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