Erstwhile `patriots' put to death for 1991 murder

Two Chinese men who were once hailed as anti-communist patriots were executed by firing squad yesterday at the Toucheng Detention Center in Taipei County.

Zhuo Changren (卓長仁) and Jiang Hongjun (姜洪軍) arrived in Taiwan together with Shi Xiaoning (施小寧) after the three men hijacked a plane in China and flew to Taiwan via South Korea. In July of 1991, economic difficulties drove the three men to kidnap Wang Chun-chieh (王俊傑), the son of the assistant director of the Cathay General Hospital, Wang Yu-ming (王欲明). They killed their hostage, and the case came to light on Nov. 25 of the same year.

The case was repeatedly reviewed for nine years until the final verdict was confirmed on Sept. 22 last year. During a fourth review, the court said that the three men didn't have a premeditated plan to kidnap Wang for ransom, and their crime was redefined as murder. Only Shi's sentence was changed, however, to life in prison.

Since the verdict was reconfirmed, Zhuo's wife, Gao Tung-ping (高東萍) has lobbied tirelessly on his behalf. She managed to get the attention of Lee Shen-yi (李伸一), a member of the Control Yuan, who took Zhuo's case file for review and thus effectively delayed implementation of his punishment for nearly a year. No new evidence emerged to give sufficient reason to overturn the original verdict.

At the moment of his execution, Zhou yelled out "Long live the Republic of China."