The long-awaited retrial of the Hsichih Trio begins at the Taiwan High Court today, reopening Taiwan's highest-profile murder case.
The six-member defense team is prepared to challenge the murder convictions of the three men -- Su Chien-ho (蘇建和), Liu Bing-lang (劉秉郎) and Chuang Lin-hsun (莊林勳) -- by claiming that no direct evidence against them has ever been found.
PHOTO: CHANG LI-KE, TAIPEI TIMES
The three-member prosecution, on the other hand, will be required to prove its argument that the three men murdered a Hsichih, Taipei County, couple in 1991.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Expecting crowds of people to attend the hearing which starts at 9:30am, the court has installed a huge TV monitor outside the courtroom which will broadcast the proceedings live.
Human rights organizations, which have campaigned many years for the three inmates, will also send a delegation to observe today's hearing.
"We believe that how the retrial proceeds will very much determine how the rules of evidence will be applied in Taiwan's criminal system," said Sue Wang (
The rights groups said they would respect the independence of the judiciary and would wait for all controversies surrounding the case to be resolved through the judicial process during the retrial.
The court allowed Su to visit his home in Hsichih yesterday to pay his respects to his deceased father, who died on Oct. 29. Su's father, who had had worked tirelessly since 1991 to try to prove his son's innocence, was told before his death that the court had granted a retrial.
As family members looked on and cried, Su -- with his hands and legs shackled -- entered the house which he had not visited since his arrest in 1991. He fell to his knees upon seeing his father's Pai Wei (
"I'll be back home when I am proven innocent," Su said addressing his deceased father. Following the short visit, Su was then escorted back to the Taipei Detention House to await today's retrial.
Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) meanwhile visited the family of the murdered couple -- Wu Ming-han (吳銘漢) and Yeh Ying-lan (葉盈蘭) -- in Hsichih. Wu's family has always felt that their rights as victims had been ignored while human rights organizations have campaigned for the three defendants.
The vice president said during the visit yesterday that both the defendants' and the victims' rights would be protected. She assured the victims' family that the government would not ignore their concerns.
"Even if the three defendants are proved innocent in the end, the government is sure to find the real murderer," she said.
Since March, human rights groups and others concerned with the case have gathered daily at Taipei's Chinan Church at about 5pm to hold a vigil for the three men. The groups have decided to halt the over-200-day campaign to await the results of the retrial.
The three defendants -- aged 19 at the time -- were charged with murdering the couple in 1991 and have been on death row since 1995.
Between February and July 1995, then-state public prosecutor-general Chen Han (
Over the last few years, human rights organizations have also sought a presidential pardon for the three men.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft