Human rights and judicial reform advocates yesterday filed an extraordinary appeal for death row inmate Chiou Ho-shun (邱和順), who has been imprisoned for nearly 23 years after he was sentenced to death for two homicides in 1987.
They said the evidence against Chiou was questionable and Control Yuan investigations have found that he was tortured into confessing to the murders of a nine-year-old boy and an insurance agent.
As members of the Tsai Jui-yueh Dance Research Institute performed a piece outside the Supreme Court in Taipei about Chiou being tortured into confessing, rights advocates and attorneys filed an extraordinary appeal to Prosecutor-General Yen Ta-ho (顏大和).
Photo: Chien Li-chung, Taipei Times
They called on Yen to approve a new court review of Chiou’s case.
“We have filed numerous extraordinary appeals in the past years, but all were rejected by former prosecutor-general Huang Shi-ming (黃世銘),” Yu Po-hsiang (尤伯祥), one of Chiou’s attorneys, told reporters outside the courthouse. “We are filing a renewed extraordinary appeal today because an investigation report released by the Control Yuan last month found that there was torture behind Chiou’s confession. So we hope the new prosecutor-general will take a careful look at the case.”
Wellington Koo (顧立雄), another of Chiou’s attorneys, said that 10 police officers and two prosecutors were impeached by the Control Yuan or found guilty of “threatening and forcing Chiou into confession,” so it is clear that Chiou was tortured.
Photo: CNA
Yen should approve the appeal for a re-examination of the case, Koo said.
Wu Ching-chin (吳景欽), an associate law professor at Aletheia University, said that he has assigned the Chiou case to his students — without using Chiou’s name — and asked them to deliver a verdict, but “none rule that he is guilty because there is not sufficient evidence to support such verdict.”
Chiou is the longest-serving death row prisoner in Taiwan, Wu said.
“I hope Chiou will not become the next Iwao Hakamada,” the professor said, referring to a man in Japan who was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to death, but declared not guilty and released from prison in March after 48 years on death row.
“The Hakamada case was overturned because one of the judges who had sentenced him to death had believed from the beginning that he was innocent, although he had given into peer pressure to find him guilty, and in 2007 he stood up to defend Hakamada,” Wu said. “One of the saddest things about the judiciary in Taiwan is that there is no judge who is willing to challenge the defects in the system. No one has such moral courage.”
The Supreme Court ruled on July 28, 2011, that Chiou had received a fair trial from the Taiwan High Court and deserved to die for the 1987 slaying of Lu Cheng (陸正), who was kidnapped and killed, and his dismembered body was reportedly disposed of in the ocean off Hsinchu County.
Prior to that decision, the Supreme Court had refused to confirm the High Court ruling 11 times, citing flaws in the process and sending the case back to the lower court for retrial.
Chiou’s girlfriend, Wu Shu-chen (吳淑貞), and Lin Kun-ming (林坤明) were also found guilty in connection with Lu’s murder and sentenced to 10 and 17 years respectively.
Additional reporting by staff writer
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
RSS