The Transitional Justice Commission yesterday said that it is assessing a plan to provide medical services to White Terror victims or their surviving kin.
Commission Acting Chairwoman Yang Tsui (楊翠) made the announcement during a question-and-answer session at the Legislative Yuan in response to queries from Independent Legislator Freddy Lim (林昶佐).
Lim said that other countries have designated centers that help political victims or their families if they have medical conditions related to the political oppression that they experienced.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Many people have physical or mental ailments as a result of their experiences, he said, citing as an example someone who witnessed a family member being tortured to death and, although exhibiting no symptoms when they were young, threatens to pack up and run away.
“The practice of sending these people to psychiatric wards is just putting salt on their wounds,” he said.
Lim called on Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and the commission to assist these people.
Lim’s remarks made sense, Su said, adding that the government should take steps to provide special care to these brave and stalwart people, who stood up for the rights of others during the White Terror era.
The White Terror era refers to the suppression of political dissidents following the 228 Incident, when protesters were shot on Feb. 28, 1947. The then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime subsequently imposed martial law, which was only lifted on July 15, 1987.
Yang said that the commission is assembling volunteers from various disciplines who are involved in commission-backed therapy programs.
The commission also conducts therapeutic interviews, she said, adding that 29 families are enrolled in the program and 34 have completed it.
The commission is also producing short videos to better inform the public about this period, she said.
The commission has considered setting up centers to handle individual appeals for help, with centers made available across the nation so that victims would not need to travel to Taipei, she said.
These centers, if established, would be staffed by professionals from various fields of expertise, Yang said.
The commission has not yet decided whether it should set up an organization or unit to handle these cases, or to collaborate with existing units, she said, adding that the project is still under assessment.
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, was arrested in Boston last month amid US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigrants, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said yesterday. The arrest of Liou was first made public on the official Web site of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday. ICE said Liou was apprehended for overstaying her visa. The Boston Field Office’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) had arrested Liou, a “fugitive, criminal alien wanted for embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes in Taiwan,” ICE said. Liou was taken into custody
ON PAROLE: The 73-year-old suspect has a criminal record of rape committed when he was serving in the military, as well as robbery and theft, police said The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday approved the detention of a 73-year-old man for allegedly murdering three women. The suspect, surnamed Chang (張), was arrested on Wednesday evening in connection with the death of a 71-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙). The Kaohsiung City Police Department yesterday also unveiled the identities of two other possible victims in the serial killing case, a 75-year-old woman surnamed Huang (黃), the suspect’s sister-in-law, and a 75-year-old woman surnamed Chang (張), who is not related to the suspect. The case came to light when Chao disappeared after taking the suspect back to his residence on Sunday. Police, upon reviewing CCTV
TAIWAN ADVOCATES: The resolution, which called for the recognition of Taiwan as a country and normalized relations, was supported by 22 Republican representatives Two US representatives on Thursday reintroduced a resolution calling for the US to end its “one China” policy, resume formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan and negotiate a bilateral Taiwan-US free trade agreement. Republican US representatives Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania’s 10th District were backed by 22 Republican members of the US House of Representatives. The two congressmen first introduced the resolution together in 2021. The resolution called on US President Donald Trump to “abandon the antiquated ‘one China’ policy in favor of a policy that recognizes the objective reality that Taiwan is an independent country, not
The US-Japan joint statement released on Friday not mentioning the “one China” policy might be a sign that US President Donald Trump intends to decouple US-China relations from Taiwan, a Taiwanese academic said. Following Trump’s meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Friday, the US and Japan issued a joint statement where they reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations. Trump has not personally brought up the “one China” policy in more than a year, National Taiwan University Department of Political Science Associate Professor Chen Shih-min (陳世民)