Justice demanded for Hsichih Trio

Human rights activists and family members gathered at the Taiwan High Court yesterday to show their concern about the Hsichih Trio murder case.

The court held an investigative hearing for the trio of defendants, Su Chien-ho (蘇建和), Liu Bing-lang (劉秉郎) and Chuang Lin-hsun (莊林勳), who were first sentenced to death in 1995 and have been jailed for 11 years.

Yesterday happened to be the 11th anniversary since the trio was first put behind bars.

Before the hearing, the supporting crowd, consisting of nearly 20 family members, friends and human rights activists from the Humanistic Education Foundation (人本教育基金會), the Taiwan Association for Human Rights (台灣人權促進會) and the Judicial Reform Foundation (民間司法改革基金會), held yellow ribbons in their hands and read a statement to request a fair re-examination and retrial for the trio of defendants.

At the hearing yesterday, defense counsel Su You-chen (蘇友辰) and plaintiffs' lawyer Yang Szu-chin (楊思勤) spoke on behalf of both parties and argued over the forensic report on Wu Ming-han (吳銘漢) and Yeh Ying-lan (葉盈蘭), the victims in the case, and the evidence that was collected by the police and prosecutors.

The unclear forensic report and weak evidence are the main controversial items in the case.

They were also the reasons why former state public prosecutor-general Chen Han (陳涵) filed three extraordinary appeals to the Supreme Court on the trio's behalf.

In March of 1991, Wu and Yeh were brutally murdered in their apartment home in Hsichih, Taipei County.

The police arrested four suspects on Aug. 14, 1991, and prosecutors charged them with murder on Oct. 4 in the same year. One of the suspects, Wang Wen-hsiao (王文孝), was then serving in the military.

As a result, he was executed on Jan. 11, 1992, under the Military Law after he admitted that he committed the murder.

The other three, Su, Liu and Chuang, were sentenced to death after the first trial at the Shihlin District Court on Feb. 18, 1992. Three years later, after appeals, the Supreme Court came up with the final verdict for the trio and the result remained the same: The death penalty.

Other than Chen's three requests for extraordinary appeal that were all upheld, defense counsel Su You-chen also filed an appeal to the Supreme Court on Aug. 21, 1998.

On Sept. 23, 1999, the Supreme Court accepted the appeal and ordered the Taiwan High Court to hold rehearings and a retrial for the case. The first rehearing was held on Nov. 16, 2000.

The apartment of the murdered couple, which remains uninhabited, has been redecorated. All the furniture that was originally in the apartment has been removed, the walls repainted and floor tiles replaced.

There was no conclusion at yesterday's hearing. Judge Yeh Teng-juei (葉騰瑞) decided to hold another hearing on Aug. 29 in the same court room.