The Legislative Yuan, rather than the Constitutional Court, should decide whether the death penalty should be abolished, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said yesterday, adding that the court should not step on the authority of the legislative branch.
The court today is to hear lawyers representing 37 inmates on death row, Ministry of Justice officials and legal experts debate the constitutionality of the death penalty.
KMT cultural and communications committee director-general Lee Yen-hsiu (李彥秀) told a news conference in Taipei yesterday that a Ministry of Justice survey in 2020 showed that more than 76 percent of respondents opposed abolishing the death penalty, and 56.5 percent said the death penalty should still be in place even if people could be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
Whether the death penalty should be abolished should be decided by the legislative branch, and the Constitutional Court should not overstep its authority, Lee said.
Judicial Yuan President and Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court Hsu Tzong-li (許宗力) would only hurt the credibility of the judicial system if he intends to abolish the death penalty as a “graduation gift” to President Tsai Ying-wen (蔡英文) when her term ends next month, she said.
People should not equate capital punishment with disrespecting human rights, KMT Legislator Wu Tsung-hsien (吳宗憲) said, adding that right of the families of victims to seek justice should be considered as well.
The death sentence for murder should not be abolished, but the government could consider eliminating it for other offenses, Wu said.
“We should consider using life imprisonment without the possibility of parole to replace capital punishment to a certain extent,” Wu said.
Taiwan Victim Human Rights Association chairman Chao Wei-han (趙惟漢) said that penetrators of homicides have no right to take lives, adding that justice would be dead if people do not fight to retain the death penalty.
“Courts have stopped sentencing people to death, the justice ministry has stopped executing inmates on death row. The government-funded Association for Victims Support has also stopped speaking for victims of homicides. President Tsai, the Democratic Progressive Party and the Constitutional Court should hear the voice of the people,” Chao said.
Association vice chairman Hsu Fu-sheng (許福生) said victims’ families would experience the pain of losing their loved ones all over again if the government did not execute perpetrators who had been sentenced to death.
“Policymakers should consider the feelings of victims’ families. Taiwanese society has yet to reach a consensus on abolishing capital punishment. If the grand justices declare the death penalty unconstitutional, it would only trigger division and conflict in society,” he said.
Asked about the issue, Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) told reporters that Taiwan is a free and democratic country and is governed by the rule of law, and separation of powers is a principle clearly stated in the Constitution.
The Judicial Yuan has the right to interpret the Constitution and determine whether the death penalty is constitutional, and the Executive Yuan respects the Judicial Yuan’s authority to do so, he said.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
RSS