Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) presided over 3,195 military court cases during the White Terror era, the most on record, the Transitional Justice Commission said yesterday as the Taiwan Transitional Justice Database went online.
The database has records and photographs of victims of political persecution during the White Terror era, as well as the names and ranks of perpetrators, in the hope of enlightening the public about how such trials were conducted, the commission said.
It allows analysis using certain subsets of data, such as ethnicity, gender, place of residence and charge, it said.
Photo: CNA
Then-chief of general staff Chou Chih-jou (周至柔) presided over 2,506 cases, while then-navy commander Kuei Yung-ching (桂永清) was in charge of 1,241 cases, the database shows.
As head of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government, Chiang had the ultimate say on the rulings and he repealed them in 266 cases, the commission said, adding that the other presiding officers ultimately bowed to Chiang’s will.
The database shows that both Taiwanese and Mainlanders — those who fled to Taiwan from China with the KMT in 1949 — were victims during the White Terror era, with Taiwanese accounting for 55 percent of cases and Mainlanders 44 percent.
The main priority of the commission was to identify victims, how the victims were oppressed and who the oppressors were, commission spokeswoman Yeh Hung-ling (葉虹靈) said.
The database would allow the public to have a better understanding of the cases and help further academic study, as well as providing names of individuals and their actions during the trials, Yeh said.
Due to time and funding constraints, the database does not include information on the arrest and interrogation of victims, or how the ruling was carried out, commission Chairwoman Yang Tsui (楊翠) said.
Such information — such as whether torture was used during interrogation and victims were harassed after their release — would form the basis of further investigation and research, Yang said.
The database would allow the public to learn about what happened during the trials, National Human Rights Museum director Chen Chun-hung (陳俊宏) said, adding that it could help provide the answer to the saying: “There are tens of thousands of political victims, yet there are no oppressors.”
“The establishment of the database is only the first step, and we hope that data on agents of the state and efforts to monitor the movements of the public will also be made public to catalogue historical facts,” Chen said.
The database only includes information on cases taken to court and does not include details of other victims, such as artist Chen Cheng-po (陳澄波) and lawyer Tang Te-chang (湯德章), who were executed without trial, the commission said.
The 228 Incident refers to an uprising that began on Feb. 27, 1947, and was violently suppressed by the KMT government starting the next day.
Estimates of the number of deaths vary between 10,000 and 30,000 or more.
It marked the beginning of the White Terror era.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS