The Transitional Justice Commission yesterday exonerated 1,270 people who were convicted after the 228 Incident, with commission Chairman Huang Huang-hsiung (黃煌雄) touting the move as “a small, but significant step toward realizing transitional justice.”
The commission held a news conference at the Sheraton Grand Taipei Hotel, which was attended by people who were wrongfully or unjustly tried during the White Terror era, as well as family members of those who have died.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Premier William Lai (賴清德), Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) and Control Yuan President Chang Po-ya (張博雅) also attended the news conference, which featured speeches by people affected by the 228 Incident and the White Terror era.
Photo: CNA
Chung Yi-jen (鍾逸人), 98, said he was arrested during the 228 Incident when he was 26 for trying to protect his hometown of Taichung against the “corrupt” officials and troops Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) sent from China, who “bullied and slaughtered” Taiwanese.
“I did not break the law. I was just a Taiwanese trying to defend his country,” Chung said, expressing his gratitude to Tsai for “restoring people’s reputations.”
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) gained control of Taiwan after World War II and in 1947 sparked the 228 Incident, which ushered in the White Terror era after Chiang dispatched legions of troops to Taiwan to quash the uprising.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
Chiang in 1949, the same year he imposed martial law, retreated to Taiwan with the KMT after its defeat in the Chinese Civil War.
Wu Sheng-jun (吳聲潤), who was sentenced to 12 years in prison for making grenades for a rebel group, said he still weeps when he thinks about his lost friends, who were bludgeoned to death by the then-KMT regime, many of whom he said loved their country and were outstanding people.
Wu, 95, said the US saved Chiang’s life by deploying the US Seventh Fleet to help defend Taiwan after the Korean War, but Chiang was arresting and killing Taiwanese.
Wu thanked Tsai and the “indigenous” government she leads for repealing the unjust convictions imposed on “ill-fated” Taiwanese who until then had been living in disgrace.
Taiwan experienced a dark age before it was democratized, with some people not understanding why they were interrogated or were to be executed, Tsai said.
“Many people and their families spent most of their lives in the hope of redress,” Tsai said. “Although the government conferred certificates to warrant the restoration of their reputations, the erroneous convictions were never repealed.”
Apologizing to those who did not live to witness their exoneration, as well as their families, Tsai said the day came late, “but it is better late than never.”
The president thanked the Legislative Yuan for passing the Act on Promoting Transitional Justice (促進轉型正義條例), without which the exonerations could not have been granted.
She called on the commission to continue to solemnly and steadfastly perform its duties of redressing judicial injustices, attributing responsibility for past injustices and establishing historical facts to “regain the public’s trust.”
“Democracy will not take a backward step and neither will transitional justice,” Tsai said.
“Only by persistently learning history’s lessons can we truly move toward reconciliation,” she said.
Due to legal restrictions imposed by Article 9 of the National Security Act (國家安全法) and interpretations delivered by the Council of Grand Justices, crimes people were convicted of during the authoritarian period could not be annulled, the commission said.
However, thanks to the transitional justice act, the convictions can be repealed after the cases are published by the authorities, the commission said.
Yesterday’s exonerees were mostly accused of espionage or rebellion against the government during the Martial Law era, the commission said, adding that the Executive Yuan had published their names in a gazette on its Web site.
The exonerations marked the first set in a series of three, with about 10,000 more people to be exonerated, Huang said.
While the first batch represented just a small step, Huang said he hoped it would prove to be a significant step for the quest for transitional justice.
Statistics released by the commission showed that 1,216 men and 54 women were exonerated yesterday, including 274 who were executed.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary