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NGOs praise decision to allow Henry Lee to testify

A group of NGOs yesterday welcomed the decision by the Taiwan High Court to invite US forensic expert Henry Lee (李昌鈺) to testify as part of the highly controversial Hsichih Trio case.

Earlier this year, the court agreed to invite Lee to testify in the case amid concerns over the accuracy of the case's forensic report.

The NGOs praised the decision and hoped that it would set a precedent for future cases.

"I hope Lee's visit will raise public awareness on scientific forensic examination ... at the moment, attention has been focused too much on suspects' confessions," said Lin Feng-jeng (林峰正), president of the Judicial Reform Foundation, said at a press conference yesterday.

Shih Ying (史英), chairman of the Humanistic Education Foundation, echoed Lin's view.

"Justice is only just when the right perpetrator is sanctioned by the law," he said.

Meanwhile, a former UN special rapporteur on torture, Theo van Boven, said that "training and education of law enforcement agents" could prevent future cases such as that of the trio.

The case concerns three men, Su Chien-ho (蘇建和), Liu Bing-lang (劉秉郎) and Chuang Lin-hsun (莊林勳), who were alleged to have been involved in the murder of a couple in Hsichih, Taipei County, in 1991.

Although they were sentenced to death based on their confessions, the case has generated prolonged controversy as the original forensic report was unclear and the evidence against them weak.

Human rights groups questioned the accuracy of the forensic report and suspected that the confessions were obtained through torture.

After sitting for over 11 years on the death row, the trio were freed in 2003 when the Taiwan High Court overturned their convictions.

However, in August that year, they entered into legal process again as the prosecutor appealed to the Taiwan High Court.

Lee is scheduled to testify in court tomorrow.
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