Reactions were mixed to the Presidential Office's announcement on Tuesday that President Chen Shui-bian (
As quoted by an Executive Yuan official, President Chen has urged the Executive Yuan and its related ministries to look into the possibility of granting amnesty to Su Pin-kun (
According to the Ministry of Justice, the president is likely to announce the decision on International Human Rights Day, Dec. 10.
Su, whose conviction for robbery has been debated due to a lack of evidence, was moved to tears when he learned of the news.
The Witnesses, six of whom are still being jailed for refusing to serve compulsory military service, welcomed the amnesty as an end to Taiwan's use of criminal penalties against conscientious objectors.
However, labor groups have seen the government as using the amnesty given to Tseng as an attempt to divert public attention from its recent decision on workweek policies.
On March 23 of 1986, two masked robbers broke into a jewelry store in Hsinchu City, seriously injuring the shop owner, and escaped. Weeks later police arrested a man, Kuo Chung-hsiung (郭中雄), in an unrelated burglary case.
During police interrogation Kuo confessed to the previous crime, and implicated Su Ping-kun, his former employer with whom he had quarrelled.
Su, a carpenter and owner of a furniture shop, was then arrested and tortured by the police. Although he always insisted he was innocent and was acquitted in his first trial, the High Court used Kuo's testimony as evidence in sentencing Su to 15 years in jail. The Supreme Court finalized the conviction and sentence in 1987.
Su, However, having been put on bail, refused to serve his sentence and began his life as a fugitive.
He struggled to clear his name during his fugitive days. He and the prosecution had petitioned five times for a retrial and two successive state public prosecutor generals made four extraordinary appeals. The investigation by the state's highest watchdog, the Control Yuan, also concluded the convictions were wrong.
Taiwanese and international human rights groups campaigned for him. However, the efforts to reach a judicial solution were in vain.
Su was arrested in 1997 by the Criminal Investigation Bureau when he went to a hospital in Taoyuan County and was imprisoned.
He was granted bail for medical treatment this March due to problems with his left eye.
Witnesses welcome the amnesty
"It's good and it does mark an important moment for Taiwan as it has accepted conscientious objectors shall not be punished with criminal penalties," said Witnesses who heard of the news yesterday.
The Jehovah's Witnesses in Taiwan have for a long time been refusing to serve in the armed forces at the risk of facing long prison terms.
While serving the army is compulsory for male Taiwan nationals under the Constitution (Article 20), refusal to serve was a criminal offense punishable by a jail sentence.
Since the Jehovah's Witness denomination came to Taiwan in the 1960s, more than 100 of a total of 4,000 have been jailed for refusing to serve in the military.
Due to their objections against combat, they would rather finish prison terms of more than seven years so that they may be permanently exempted from the service.
The Witnesses would not complain or protest, as they believed that through religious convictions they could endure the hardships of imprisonment.
However, some lawyers at Lee and Li Attorneys-at-Law (
As a result of their efforts, the Council of Grand Justices reviewed the Witnesses' case last year, when there were 28 Witnesses jailed for refusing service. However, to their disappointment, the Council did not find that freedom of religion -- also guaranteed under the constitution (Article 13) -- could exempt anyone from performing compulsory military service.
Military service amendment
In January this year, the legislature passed an amendment to the Military Service Law and the Alternative Service Law, which introduced an alternative National Service program.
The program, started in August this year, has spared new Witnesses from prison terms by allowing them to serve in alternative forms of service.
Nevertheless, the new program has not helped the Witnesses already in jail for dodging their compulsory service, as there is no legal process to retroactively exempt them from their convictions, except for a presidential granting of amnesty.
Historically, there are examples of exempting conscientious objectors. Following World War II, many Western European countries passed laws to allow conscientious objectors to enter non-combative alternative service. Anyone opposed to war on religious or personal grounds was exempted from military service.
When rewriting laws related to military service, most countries thought to incorporate into their alternative service laws articles that specify retroactive solutions to those conscientious objectors already convicted and jailed.
Taiwan did not adopt such a resolution when the legislature passed the Alternative Service Law earlier this year.
It was under a petition by lawyers who have volunteered to help the Witnesses that President Chen considered granting the amnesty to the conscious objectors.
Over the past year, a few of the prisoners have finished their term and there are currently six Witnesses still in jail.
The Witnesses said they never dreamed of achieving all this and feel the president's decision has symbolized Taiwan's acknowledgement of conscientious objectors.
President's clemency fails to quell dissatisfaction
Before Tseng Mao-shing (
However, they seem less than pleased with the president's amnesty to Tseng now that they are so dissatisfied with the government's recent labor policies related to the issue of a shortened workweek.
"It's not the right timing. We feel it [the government] is using the case to divert public attention from its wrong decisions on the workweek issue," said Wuo Young-ie (
"We don't see it as mercy from the president, as we have always believed Tseng shouldn't have been jailed. And we hope they don't use Tseng for propaganda purposes to show how friendly [the government is] toward laborers," Wuo said.
"I think as soon as he gets out, Tseng will stand with us to fight against the government's wrong policies."
Four years ago, Tseng, a pioneer of Taiwan's labor movement, joined a demonstration of over 300 workers from the Lien-fu Textile Company (
When the demonstration apparently led nowhere, some of the workers suggested occupying a railroad. It was this act that constituted a "crime," according to the police.
With them was Tseng, sitting on the railroad tracks not far from the factory. A southbound train had to come to a full stop at a distance of over 400m from where the demonstrators were situated.
Though no one was hurt and no property was damaged, the main north-south rail route was closed for almost one hour. Tseng and 80 others were then arrested on charges of endangering public safety.
Sympathizing with their situation, the courts gave a suspended sentence to the other protesting workers.
Tseng, who once spent two months in jail in 1992 for joining another labor demonstration, received a reduced sentence of 10 months.
When his conviction was upheld by the Supreme Court this year, Tseng, 59, started serving his 10-month term at Taipei Prison.
Over the last week, labor groups have staged protests against the government's decision to reverse a previous amendment to a law on a maximum workweek.
While welcoming their old friend back, labor groups said they doubted the motivations of the government and said they will not give up their stance on the workweek because of the amnesty.
"It's good to have Tseng back, but I'm afraid the government will not have what they want because we're going to keep on fighting on the workweek issue," Wuo said.
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