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."
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