The State Public Prosecutor General's refusal to make an extraordinary appeal for death row inmate Hsu Tzu-chiang (
Hsu's distraught family and the Judicial Reform Foundation (民間司法改革基金會) held a quiet demonstration in front of the Supreme Court Prosecutor's Office and the Ministry of Justice. They condemned the State Public Prosecutor General Lu Jen-fa (盧仁發) for treating human life with indifference.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
On Thursday, Lu dismissed the foundation's petition asking him to make an extraordinary appeal for Hsu. The petition cited a Control Yuan investigation report released in January that concluded Hsu's conviction was flawed and unlawful. In the report the Control Yuan also suggested the State Public Prosecutor General make the extraordinary appeal.
In his document replying to the petition Lu only said that after a reexamination "there was no reason to make an extraordinary appeal, [as] the office has already sent several appeals for Hsu Tzu-chiang." There was no further explanation.
Lu dismissed Hsu's petition for an extraordinary appeal twice last May, after the conviction was confirmed by the Supreme Court on April 27 last year.
Lawyer Joseph Lin (
"The Control Yuan has investigated the case and listed seven problems with the conviction. How could there be no reason for an extraordinary appeal? Lu didn't even have to give a reason for his decision," Lin said.
"The DPP government says it advocates human rights. A State Public Prosecutor General neglecting human rights like this must be stopped! Why does Chen Ding-nan [陳定南, Minister of Justice] lack the boldness to replace him?"
In front of the Ministry of Justice yesterday, Hsu's mother Chen Hsiu-chin (
"He turned himself in to clear his name! Why would he have turned himself in if he had committed the crime?" Chen said in tears. She and other family members and relatives of Hsu held banners demanding justice.
Hsu was indicted and prosecuted for the Sept. 1, 1995 kidnapping and murder of Huang Chun-shu (
Last May, Chen Yi-lung wrote a confession admitting that he had deliberately incriminated Hsu because he had a grudge against him and hoped to delay the trial.
Hsu's family also complained that Hsu had an alibi which the court failed to acknowledge. The Control Yuan report made the same comment.
The spokesman for the Supreme Court Prosecutor's Office, Yang Shih-Chih (楊世治), said all cases are dealt with in accordance with the law.
Hsu's family and the foundation continued the fight for his life yesterday by submitting a fourth petition for an extraordinary appeal and calling on the minister of justice to halt the execution.
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