Four people on death row were executed yesterday evening, the Ministry of Justice announced last night.
The ministry made the announcement after the four people were shot with pistols at 7:30pm at four different prisons.
The four had been given death sentences and were executed in accordance with the law, the ministry said.
The four were Chang Wen-wei (張文蔚), Ko Shih-ming (柯世銘), Chang Wei-long (張慰龍) and Hong Chen-yao (洪晨耀).
Chang Wen-wei was given a death sentence for the kidnapping and murder of a 16-year-old in Taichung County. He committed the crime while he was out on parole.
Ko had been handed two death sentences for killing a man in a business dispute in Tainan County, as well as a woman who witnessed the murder.
Chang Wei-long kidnapped his friend’s seven-year-old daughter in Taoyuan County and murdered her after he was paid a ransom.
Hong was found guilty of murdering three people over debt disputes in Hsinchu County. He told police he killed them because he was upset.
Until yesterday’s executions, the Ministry of Justice had not approved an execution since December 2005.
Saying that Taiwan is a country of law and order where all procedures are conducted in accordance with the law, Presidential Office Spokesman Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) last night said there must be a legal base for a stay of execution, otherwise the Ministry of Justice should proceed according to the law.
More discussion is needed before the public reaches a consensus on whether the death penalty should be abolished, he said.
The issue of abolishing the death penalty came to the fore in March when then-minister of justice Wang Ching-feng (王清峰) openly stated her objections to capital punishment and said she would not approve any executions as minister. Her statements led to public criticism, especially by victims’ families and opposition legislators and Wang later resigned.
New Justice Minister Tseng Yung-fu (曾勇夫) has said he would approve the executions of prisoners on death row if they have exhausted the appeals process.
In view of the controversial issue, the ministry recently held hearings to gather the public’s opinions on the matter.
At a hearing held in Banciao (板橋), Taipei County, on April 21, Tseng said the ministry would review the cases of all 44 inmates now on death row, and exhaust all relief measures before carrying out any executions.
“Carrying out the death sentences will not drag to the end of this year,” Tseng said at the time.
AGING: As of last month, people aged 65 or older accounted for 20.06 percent of the total population and the number of couples who got married fell by 18,685 from 2024 Taiwan has surpassed South Korea as the country least willing to have children, with an annual crude birthrate of 4.62 per 1,000 people, Ministry of the Interior data showed yesterday. The nation was previously ranked the second-lowest country in terms of total fertility rate, or the average number of children a woman has in her lifetime. However, South Korea’s fertility rate began to recover from 2023, with total fertility rate rising from 0.72 and estimated to reach 0.82 to 0.85 by last year, and the crude birthrate projected at 6.7 per 1,000 people. Japan’s crude birthrate was projected to fall below six,
Conflict with Taiwan could leave China with “massive economic disruption, catastrophic military losses, significant social unrest, and devastating sanctions,” a US think tank said in a report released on Monday. The German Marshall Fund released a report titled If China Attacks Taiwan: The Consequences for China of “Minor Conflict” and “Major War” Scenarios. The report details the “massive” economic, military, social and international costs to China in the event of a minor conflict or major war with Taiwan, estimating that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could sustain losses of more than half of its active-duty ground forces, including 100,000 troops. Understanding Chinese
US President Donald Trump in an interview with the New York Times published on Thursday said that “it’s up to” Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) what China does on Taiwan, but that he would be “very unhappy” with a change in the “status quo.” “He [Xi] considers it to be a part of China, and that’s up to him what he’s going to be doing, but I’ve expressed to him that I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don’t think he’ll do that. I hope he doesn’t do that,” Trump said. Trump made the comments in the context
SELF-DEFENSE: Tokyo has accelerated its spending goal and its defense minister said the nation needs to discuss whether it should develop nuclear-powered submarines China is ramping up objections to what it sees as Japan’s desire to acquire nuclear weapons, despite Tokyo’s longstanding renunciation of such arms, deepening another fissure in the two neighbors’ increasingly tense ties. In what appears to be a concerted effort, China’s foreign and defense ministries issued statements on Thursday condemning alleged remilitarism efforts by Tokyo. The remarks came as two of the country’s top think tanks jointly issued a 29-page report framing actions by “right-wing forces” in Japan as posing a “serious threat” to world peace. While that report did not define “right-wing forces,” the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs was
RSS