The Ministry of Justice yesterday defended its execution of a death row inmate that evening, while human rights groups condemned the move as politically motivated.
The death penalty by firing squad was carried out according to the law to "ensure social justice" while taking into account human rights protections, the ministry said.
It was Taiwan's first execution since President William Lai (賴清德) took office on May 20 last year.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was sentenced to death in 2017 for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend and the murder of her mother in New Taipei City's Sanchong District (三重) on Oct. 1, 2013, had committed the most serious crime, the ministry said.
The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office reviewed Huang's case and determined that there were no grounds for filing an extraordinary appeal, the ministry added, contending that the execution was in compliance with a Constitutional Court ruling on the death penalty from last year.
Human rights groups condemned the execution, calling it an attempt by the Democratic Progressive Party government to reverse political headwinds.
"We strongly condemn the attempt of the Lai government to use the implementation of the death penalty to divert attention from his current political predicament," the groups said in a joint statement issued hours after Huang was executed last night.
Speaking to reporters at an event in Taichung this morning, Lai said the death penalty was constitutional, and he expressed hope for public support for the government's action in accordance with the law.
He did not respond to a question about whether the execution was carried out to boost his government's approval rating, given the public's consistent backing of the death penalty.
The groups said the execution contravened procedural justice and the Constitutional Court's ruling on the death penalty in September last year, which ordered that it should only apply in "the most serious" premeditated murders and crimes leading to death.
The ruling also said the 37 death row convicts who had brought their cases to the court after exhausting appeal measures, including Huang, might petition the head prosecutor of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office to file extraordinary appeals for them.
Carrying out the death sentence would not bring about a safer society or improve public trust in the government, but would "render a more bloodthirsty society and deepen public resentment against the government," the groups said.
They called for giving the remaining 36 death row inmates sufficient time to petition the office and for a moratorium on their executions until Prosecutor-General Hsing Tai-chao (邢泰釗) has reviewed their petitions.
The statement was issued by the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty, the Judicial Reform Foundation, the Taiwan Association for Human Rights and the Covenants Watch.
Meanwhile, the EU in a statement said it "recalls its opposition to capital punishment in all cases and all circumstances" while expressing its "sincere sympathy to the family of the victims" in Huang's case.
It urged Taiwan to "apply and maintain a de facto moratorium, and to pursue a consistent policy towards the full abolition of the death penalty."
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
The Taipei City Reserve Command yesterday initiated its first-ever 14-day recall of some of the city’s civilian service reservists, who are to undergo additional training on top of refresher courses. The command said that it rented sites in Neihu District (內湖), including the Taipei Tennis Center, for the duration of the camp to optimize tactical positioning and accommodate the size of the battalion of reservists. A battalion is made up of four companies of more than 200 reservists each, it said. Aside from shooting drills at a range in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), the remainder of the training would be at
RSS