The Transitional Justice Commission has outlined the operations of the former state security apparatus and its role in the oppression of Taiwanese in an update on the commission’s ongoing historical research.
Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), as the autocratic leader of the state, as well as military courts and the Republic of China’s national security and espionage apparatus were the main agents of oppression during the White Terror era, the commission’s The Mission Implementation and Investigative Outcomes Report said.
The one-party state system provided an overarching framework in which oppressive rule was carried out, the report added.
Photo: Chen Yu-fu, Taipei Times
In a bid to solidify his rule, Chiang presided over the enactment or amendment of laws that applied military jurisprudence over civilians, it said.
These laws included the Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of National Mobilization for Suppression of the Communist Rebellion (動員戡亂時期臨時條款), the Martial Law Act (戒嚴法) and the Punishment of Rebellion Act (懲治叛亂條例), the report said.
Laws governing political crimes were broadly construed to enable them to be arbitrarily used by the state, it said.
In particular, the features of regulations led to the conflation of the command authorities and judicial power, which abetted political extrajudicial interventions by Chiang, the supreme military commander, the report said.
Historical records showed that Chiang intervened in 80 percent of cases where a military court overturned an initial ruling and replaced it with punishments that were more severe, with 30 percent of cases resulting in a death sentence, it said.
Historical documents reviewed by the commission lent credence to the idea that Chiang’s personal intervention was critical in the imposition of heavier sentences in such cases, the report said.
Moreover, Chiang’s preference for severely punishing dissent created a culture among military judges of imposing heavier sentences to please him, it said.
The gradual introduction of an independent judiciary and right to legal counsel in the mid to late 1950s led to a reduction in the severity of these laws and helped lessen the role of military courts, it said.
The Transitional Justice Database has so far identified 21,257 victims of state violence, and the commission is making use of the platform to identify perpetrators, including military judges and administrators, along with political leaders, including Chiang, the report said.
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