The Transitional Justice Commission yesterday posthumously exonerated five prison inmates who were executed after the 1970 Taiyuan Prison Insurrection.
The five Taiwan independence advocates, held at the prison in Taitung County, seized weapons and broke out of the facility, but were later captured.
They hoped to lead an uprising against the nation’s military dictatorship and proclaim independence, said Kao Chin-lang (高金郎), who was a political prisoner in Taiyuan Prison at the time of the insurrection
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Kao has for several years organized events to commemorate the five inmates — Cheng Chin-ho (鄭金河), Chiang Ping-hsing (江炳興), Chen Liang (陳良), Chan Tien-tseng (詹天增) and Hsieh Tung-jung (謝東榮) — who were executed on May 30, 1970, after a short military trial.
A sixth prisoner, Cheng Cheng-cheng (鄭正成), who was involved in the insurrection, evaded being executed as the five claimed he had been their hostage.
The commission yesterday exonerated the five of all criminal charges.
Chiang’s younger sister, Chiang Yueh-wei (江月瑋), broke down in tears following the announcement of his exoneration at a news conference held by the commission in Taipei.
“Our whole family is honored by my uncle’s sacrifice,” Chiang Yueh-wei’s son said.
Former political prisoner Tsai Kuan-yu (蔡寬裕) thanked the commission for the exonerations, calling it the “return of justice to Taiwanese society.”
The commission said that the five saved several fellow prisoners who were involved in planning the insurrection by refusing to reveal their names.
“The ruling in this insurrection case was based on then-president Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) will — it was a breach of the separation of powers, the independence of the judiciary and the constitutional rights of these men,” the commission said.
Their actions were at the time determined to contravene Article 100 of the Criminal Code — sanctioning sedition — which resulted in the revocation of their rights and freedoms, including their right to resist and to express their political views, it said.
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