The timing of the execution of five death row inmates on Friday has sparked political speculation.
Friday’s executions came just three days after Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) questioned Minister of Justice Tseng Yung-fu (曾勇夫) about capital punishment. Some members of the judiciary suspect that the Executive Yuan, the ruling party and the top brass have worked together to support Wu, generally considered a protege of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
Others have speculated that the ministry chose to execute the inmates on the eve of crucial by-elections for two legislative seats in southern Taiwan, and that the possibility the executions were used as a means of soliciting votes for the ruling party could not be ruled out.
Some justice officials have also questioned why the five were chosen, noting that Wang Chih-huang (王志煌) killed only two people, while other death row inmates had killed more. The ministry should explain this, they said.
Other justice officials said part of the reason the ministry has begun to execute inmates is probably because Taiwan has received Schengen visa-free treatment and that the wrongful execution of an Air Force private has been forgotten.
Speculation also rose among some who asked whether the next round of executions would fall “by coincidence” close to elections, such as the next legislative elections or next year’s presidential election.
According to Tseng, the five people executed had exhausted their avenues for retrial, constitutional interpretation or extraordinary appeal and “there were no reasons not to execute them. We have to deal with them according to the law.”
Chien Han-liang (錢漢良), a -prosecutor of the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office, who is in charge of executions, said capital punishment can deter some crimes and should be meted out in accordance with the law.
Chien has often said that “justice should be in sync with the public will.”
He said he has read every dossier on death row inmates and said that every one of them deserves the punishment.
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