Taiwan: Executions of five men condemned 國際特赦組織譴責台灣處決五死囚

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
PRESS RELEASE
4 March 2011

Taiwan: Executions of five men condemned

Amnesty International has condemned the execution of five men in Taiwan on 4 March 2011.

The five men – Wang Chih-huang, Wang Kuo-hua, Chuang Tien-chu, Guang Chung-yen and Chung Teh-shu – were all executed by shooting. They had been separately sentenced to death for crimes committed between 1988 and 2005.

“The Taiwanese authorities have repeatedly stated their intention to abolish the death penalty,” said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International’s Asia Pacific Director. “But they have – yet again – acted contrary to their own commitments and against the global trend towards abolition of the death penalty.”

The executions come four weeks after President Ma Ying-jeou formally apologised for the execution of an innocent man in 1997.

“Only last month, President Ma had to apologize for the execution of an innocent man. Following that so closely with today’s executions, however, shows a blatant disregard for the fallibility and irreversibility of the death penalty,” said Sam Zarifi.

The Taiwanese authorities resumed executions for the first time since 2005 last year, when four people were executed on 30 April 2010.

Taiwan provides no procedure that would allow people under sentence of death to seek pardon or commutation of the sentence – a right recognized by International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Taiwan has legally committed to implement.

More than 70 people remain on death row in Taiwan. Family members are not informed about scheduled executions in advance. They learn about the executions afterwards when they are invited to collect the body from the mortuary.

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception regardless of the nature of the crime, the characteristics of the offender, or the method used by the state to carry out the execution.

Public Document
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國際特赦組織譴責台灣處決五死囚

國際特赦組織譴責台灣於2011年3月4日處決五人。

王志煌、王國華、莊天助、管鐘演、鐘德樹等五人遭到槍決。他們分別在1988年至2005間遭判死刑。

國際特赦組織亞太地區執行長Sam Zarifi表示：「台灣當局不斷表達廢除死刑的意向；但是卻又再一次違反承諾，也和全球廢除死刑的潮流背道而馳。」這次槍決死刑犯和先前馬英九總統為了1997年一件無辜個案遭槍決而正式道歉僅相隔四週。

Sam Zarifi表示，「不過就在上個月，馬總統才剛因為無辜的人遭到處決而道歉。卻緊接著在今天就再度處決死刑犯，公然地忽視死刑制度的不可靠以及不可回復。」

去年，即2010年4月30日，台灣政府重啟自2005年以來的第一次死刑執行，一共有四人遭到處決。

目前台灣並沒有提供死刑犯要求特赦或減刑的程序，這是公民、政治權利國際公約所認定的一項權利，而台灣也正式在法律上施行。

目前台灣有70名死刑犯[1] 。死刑犯家屬並無法事先被通知死刑執行的時間。他們往往在事後被要求至殯儀館的太平間領取遺體時，才會知道家人已被處決。

不論考慮犯罪性質、罪犯的性格或國家執行死刑等方式，國際特赦組織反對所有案件使用死刑，不應有任何例外。

[1] 這裡所指的70名死刑犯，係指目前台灣法院所有判決死刑的個案，包含各審未定讞及定讞個案。