The Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty (TAEDP) yesterday announced it would hold its third “Murder by Numbers” film festival from today until Oct. 24 to raise public awareness on the campaign to abolish capital punishment.
“We’ve been holding screenings of films related to the death penalty since 2004 because we want the public to put more thought into the issue,” alliance executive director Lin Hsin-yi (林欣怡) told a press conference in Taipei, three days before the World Day Against the Death Penalty.
“After most of the screenings, there will be discussion sessions hosted by people who are involved in the movement against the death penalty, to talk about the movies or simply about capital punishment,” Lin said.
The 2010 TAEDP Film Festival will take place in Taipei, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien, Taichung, Taoyuan and Hsinchu, with the hope of instigating in-depth discussion on the subject that goes well beyond simply whether the penalty should exist, Lin said.
Nine films related to the death penalty, from Germany, Japan, Iran, Hong Kong, France, India, Taiwan and the US, will be presented during the festival.
Attorney and alliance member Kao Yung-cheng (高涌誠) said that even those who believe in keeping the death penalty should consider supporting a temporary ban, given the chaotic standards on sentencing.
“Recently, many people have cast doubt on sentences handed down by judges,” Kao said. “They should also cast a doubt on whether death sentences are justified before real reform in the judiciary takes place.”
The execution of four prisoners on April 30, which ended a five-year moratorium on the death penalty, drew criticism from various countries and international organizations and sparked nationwide discussion, Lin said.
The festival is also intended to focus on the issue of state violence by reviewing relations between the government, its people and the death penalty, Yen Chueh-an (顏厥安), a professor at National Taiwan University, said at the press conference.
More information is available at www.taedp-film2010.blogspot.com.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
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