The Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty (TAEDP) said on Friday it was pleased to learn that the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) would actively support a task force set up to forge consensus on abolishing capital punishment.
However, transparency will be very important during the process, TAEDP executive director Lin Hsin-yi (林欣怡) said.
“The more people know, the easier it will be to forge consensus and to communicate,” she said. “The same applies to every major policy and social issue.”
Lin made the remarks after a 90-minute closed-door meeting about capital punishment with Minister of Justice Tseng Yung-fu (曾勇夫) on Friday, a hot-button issue following the execution of four death-row prisoners last month.
The execution of four of the 44 prisoners on death row on April 30 came five weeks after minister of justice Wang Ching-feng (王清峰) resigned amid a political storm sparked by her statement that she would not sign any death warrants during her term.
The TAEDP has petitioned the Council of Grand Justices on behalf of the remaining 40 inmates for a constitutional ruling.
Asked whether there would be more executions, Wu Chih-kuang (吳志光), deputy convener of the alliance, told media after the meeting that Tseng had told the group that the MOJ would respect the constitutional court’s decision on those cases, but would not set a timetable for abolition of the death penalty.
Tseng vowed to accelerate work by the task force, which is made of academics, civic groups and officials, Wu said.
Wu said the group and the minister agreed that while the goal was to abolish the death penalty, close collaboration and time would ne needed to convince the public.
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