“The Death Sentence? Innocence? Or something else…”
Notice of Press Conference
In 1987, defendants including Chiu Ho-Shun, were arrested for the death of a kidnapped Hsin-Chu school boy, Lu Cheng.They were sentenced to the death penalty and were barred from serving as public employees for life. In 1994, the then Member of the Control Yuan, Ms Wang Ching-Feng, uncovered evidence used by the police in prosecuting Chiu Ho-Shun, and this brought new lights on the case.
Until now, the defendant Chiu Ho-Shun had been held in custody for 20 years, and this is also the oldest undecided criminal case in Taiwan’s history. The High Court had repeatedly sentenced Chiu Ho-Shun to death 10 times, all of which were revoked by the Supreme Court.
BEIJING – China executed two members of a Muslim minority on Thursday after finding the men guilty of killing 17 police in an attack last year in the country's far west that Beijing said was an attempt to sabotage the Beijing Olympics.
An overseas activist group called for an investigation of the men's trial and allegations that they were tortured in custody.
The executions in China's Xinjiang region came a day after two Tibetans were sentenced to death for arson during riots in Lhasa last spring, showing the government's determination to tamp down unrest in regions that have chafed under its rule. An overseas group said security has been tightened in cities in Xinjiang with house-to-house searches of residents.
Taiwan’s legislature has ratified two of the most important international conventions for the development of human rights. On 31 March, the Legislative Yuan debated and ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on 31 March.
"Amnesty International welcomes Taiwan’s ratification of these two covenants, which form the basis of the international human rights framework together with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights," said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International Asia-Pacific Director.
"Taiwan’s actions present a strong model for the region that economic growth and prosperity can go along hand in hand with increasing respect for human rights."
On March 31, the legislature debated and ratified two international conventions. Such an event would be big news in more enlightened countries, but only one of Taiwan’s Chinese-language newspapers reported on it, and that report was rather short. In writing this article, I want to compensate for this puzzling omission.
The two conventions that the legislature approved are the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which, together with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, are the three most important global human rights agreements.
Defendants living with mental illnesses are being let down by a court system that critics say is fundamentally flawed
By Celia Llopis-Jepsen
STAFF REPORTER
IN the early hours of June 5, 2007, a gasoline bomb was thrown into Hua Xin Cleaners (華新洗衣店) in Kaohsiung City’s Zuoying District (左營). Four people in the building died in the ensuing blaze.
Within a week, police had named university lecturer Chen Pei-yuan (陳培元) as a suspect. A month later, Chen was charged with murder and on June 25 last year convicted in his first trial and sentenced to life in prison. The case is now at the Kaohsiung branch of the High Court, where, if found guilty again, he could be sentenced to death.
But prejudice and a flawed judicial system may have resulted in an unfair first conviction, in a case that highlights how the system fails defendants with mental disorders, Chen’s lawyer and anti-death penalty advocates say.
Chen’s attorney, Thomas S.K. Chan (詹順貴), says his client should never have been convicted. He calls the evidence against Chen “far-fetched” and believes he was convicted because he has a history of mental illness and was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Human rights groups yesterday welcomed the legislature’s ratification of two UN human rights conventions on Tuesday — 42 years after their signing — and called on the government to turn the treaties into national policy.
Death will come soon for Jiang Yong. A corrupt local planning official with a taste for the high life, Yong solicited money from businessmen eager to expand in China's economic boom.
Showering gifts on his mistress, known as Madam Tang, the unmarried official took more than ￠G1 million in bribes from entrepreneurs wanting permission to build skyscrapers on land which had previously been protected from development.
Activists urge end of death penalty following report
By Loa Iok-sin
STAFF REPORTER
Thursday, Mar 26, 2009, Page 2
An Amnesty International report released on Tuesday listed Taiwan as one of the 59 countries that still have the death penalty and anti-capital punishment activists yesterday urged the government to follow the global trend and abolish the practice.
The report said that more than 2,300 people were executed in 25 countries worldwide, while almost 9,000 others were sentenced to death last year.
New Mexico Becomes the 15th State to Eliminate the Death Penalty Other States Consider Taking Similar Action to Ease Budget Concerns by Death Penalty Focus March 18, 2009
On March 18, 2009, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson signed H.B. 285, which is a bi-partisan bill that replaces the death penalty with permanent imprisonment. New Mexico is the fifteenth state to abandon capital punishment and the second state to do so legislatively in the last two years. New Jersey's legislature passed a similar bill in December 2007. At least ten other states have considered similar measures this year citing the significant savings that could result from ending the death penalty: Montana, Nebraska, Maryland, Colorado, New Hampshire, and Kansas are among them. Earlier this year, Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley called on his state's legislature to end the death penalty citing both financial and ethical concerns.
Faced with public intransigence and what they say is a flawed system, activists support an unofficial moratorium on capital punishment
By Celia Llopis-Jepsen
STAFF REPORTER
Sunday, Jan 04, 2009, Page 13 Taipei Times
On Jan. 17 of last year, Wang Kuo-hua (王國華) lost his third and final trial, sending him to death row on a charge of premeditated murder with rape.
The verdict, however, states that the survivor among Wang's two victims told the court Wang had not raped her or her friend, and her testimony did not indicate that he had planned the murder.
The case illustrates systemic problems with the nation's death penalty system that the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty (廢除死刑推動聯盟) has long campaigned to change.
It is not clear why Wang received the severest sentence, Taiwan Alliance director Lin Hsin-yi (林欣怡) said in a recent interview.
Furthermore, the judge said in the ruling that Wang was apparently mentally ill.
Yet none of these points was taken into account for the sentencing, Lin said.
