Cheng Tzu-tsai (鄭自才), a former dissident who conspired to assassinate then-vice premier Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) in the US in 1970, appeared in court on Tuesday last week seeking compensation for a one-year prison term he served in Taiwan on separate charges more than 30 years ago.
Cheng was imprisoned in November 1992 for illegally entering Taiwan the previous year, but his conviction was overturned in September last year by the Ministry of Justice.
The ministry approved Cheng’s application under the Act on Promoting Transitional Justice (促進轉型正義條例), legislation which aims to address injustices committed during the period of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) authoritarian rule in Taiwan from 1945 to 1992.
Photo: Yang Kuo-wen, Taipei Times
Speaking outside the High Court on Tuesday last week, Cheng said he is seeking the maximum compensation of NT$5,000 (US$152) per day calculated for every day of his 365-day sentence, a total of NT$1.825 million.
High Court judge Liu Wei-pi (劉為丕) said that the ministry’s decision to revoke Cheng’s conviction was based on transitional justice legislation, but whether this ruling is relevant to the Criminal Compensation Act (刑事補償法) has yet to be established by the court.
The case at the High Court continues.
Cheng alongside his brother-in-law and coconspirator Peter Huang (黃文雄) took part in a failed attempt to assassinate Chiang, who was visiting New York in April 20, 1970, to meet with then-US president Richard Nixon.
The pair later insisted they were motivated by political reasons to kill Chiang, the son of then-president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣中正), who later replaced his father as president under the authoritarian KMT-led regime in 1978.
At the time, Cheng was secretary-general of the World United Formosans for Independence, an alliance of overseas Taiwanese promoting the establishment of a Republic of Taiwan.
Cheng was immediately arrested after the unsuccessful assassination attempt, but jumped bail in the US and later lived outside Taiwan for more than two decades.
He was arrested in January 1991 and imprisoned under the National Security Act (國家安全法) for illegally entering the country.
Now 89 years old, Cheng is chairman of the Sovereign State for Formosa and Pescadores Party, a small pro-Taiwanese independence political party established in 2019.
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