TAIPEI, Sep 30, 2011 (IPS) - A Taiwan military tribunal has confirmed that the late Air Force private Chiang Kuo-ching had been wrongfully executed in August 1997 for the rape and murder of a five-year-old girl. But campaigners against the death penalty doubt that this will restore the moratorium on capital punishment the Taiwan government broke in April last year.
Nine inmates have been executed by shooting since President Ma Ying-jeou’s right-wing Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang or KMT) government ended the nearly five-year tacit moratorium on executions that began in 2005 under the previous centrist Democratic Progressive Party government (DPP).
Speaking to the legislative judicial committee Sep. 28, Justice Minister Tseng Yung-fu denied media reports that up to 10 of the 51 convicts whose death sentences have been confirmed will be executed shortly after this year’s National Day celebrations Oct. 10. He said "there is no timetable for the executions" and that "at present there is no concrete plan or list of convicts."
NEXT STEP:：The Ministry of National Defense will now help the family of the wrongfully executed airman Chiang Kuo-ching apply for compensation
By Rich Chang / Staff Reporter
Wed, Sep 14, 2011 - Page 3 Taipei Times
A military court yesterday acquitted Chiang Kuo-ching (江國慶), who was executed for the rape and murder of a girl 15 years ago, in a posthumous trial.
Chiang was executed in 1997 after being convicted of sexually abusing and murdering a five-year-old girl.
The Military Northern District Court yesterday morning handed down the ruling after the Military Supreme Court Prosecutors' Office filed an extraordinary appeal with the Military Supreme Court in May last year to reopen the case.
The Military Supreme Prosecutors' Office's legal action followed findings by the Control Yuan that Chiang had been tortured by military investigators.
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday said it was the final verdict and it would help Chiang's family apply for national compensation.
