Fri, Sep 24, 1999 page4

• Court affirms Chen's death sentence

  JUDICIAL REVIEW Infamous murderer Chen Ching-hsing has received his fourth death sentence following a review of a murder case by the Taiwan High Court

  • By Irene Lin / STAFF REPORTER
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  After its review of the bloody kidnap and murder of a 17-year-old girl in 1997, the Taiwan High Court yesterday reaffirmed the death sentence handed down to the accused murderer Chen Ching-hsing (陳進興), amounting to four calls for his execution.

  However, since the validity of the Act for the Control and Punishment of Banditry (懲治盜匪條例), under which Chen was convicted, continues to be debated, Chen does not seem to be facing any immediate threat of execution.

  Chen, who received three previous death sentences for a series of murders and robberies during 1997, showed no feelings of remorse or sadness as he waited for the sentence to be passed in court yesterday.

  "The Lord is just, no one can stop the Lord from loving me," Chen said calmly upon hearing the decision on his death sentence. The High Court, under instruction from the Supreme Court, had been reviewing the murder of the high school student since December, and concluded yesterday that the lower court's ruling on Chen's death should stand.

  Pai Hsiao-yen (白曉燕), the daughter of popular TV entertainer Pai Ping-ping (白冰冰), was kidnapped and eventually killed after days of torture by Chen and two other men, Lin Chun-sheng (林春生) and Kao Tien-min (高天民), both of whom killed themselves during shootouts with police in August and November 1997, respectively.

  The High Court found that Chen, having committed the murder of the teen in April 1997, was also responsible for a string of killings and abductions during the same year -- the abduction of a Taipei County councilor in June, the kidnapping of a businessman in August and the murder of a plastic surgeon, his wife and a nurse at the surgeon's clinic in October.

  Last December, the Supreme Court finalized the three death sentences on Chen for the string of crimes. However, the Supreme Court, Taiwan's highest court of appeal, requested a review of Pai's murder because of doubts as to whether or not Chen's brother-in-law Chang Chih-hui (張志輝) was an accomplice to the crime.

  The Supreme Court had also requested the High Court to re-examine Chen's crime in the hostage-taking of the family of South African military attache Col. McGill Alexander on Nov. 17 1997, which eventually ended when Chen surrendered himself to police who had surrounded the family's house where Chen was bailed up.

  In yesterday's High Court rulings, Chen received a life sentence on a charge of attempted murder of the hostages.

  On rulings concerning Chang's crimes, the High Court determined yesterday that Chang had acted as an accomplice in killing Pai and sentenced him to life in jail despite his claim that he played no part in the murder.

  Chang, who had previously been acquitted by the Taipei District Court, protested against a dramatic decision by the High Court to sentence him to life imprisonment in September 1998, claiming his confessions were extracted under torture by investigators.

  Upon hearing the results of the High Court review yesterday, Chang broke down in court and hit a wooden desk in front of him with his head, crying out, "How come they still made the decision regardless of the fact I was tortured? What could I do except to continue appealing?"

  Chen's wife, Chang Su-chen (張素真), also appeared in court yesterday to hear her sentence on a charge of hiding her husband when he was on the run from police after Pai's murder.

  After its review of the charge against Chang Su-chen, the three-judge-panel decided yesterday to finalize a nine-month imprisonment previously passed by the district court.

  "As Chen's wife, I could serve part of the penalties imposed on him without complaints. But what I can't accept is the life sentence passed on my brother, who I believe is innocent," Chang said.

  Both of the sentences passed yesterday against Chen and Chang Chih-hui can still be appealed to the Supreme Court, but the decision against Chang Su-chen is final, legal sources said.
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