Minister of Justice responds to Taiwan death penalty comment

司法部長回應台灣死刑言論

Head of Taiwan Justice says no time schedule has been set for capital punishment cases


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – During a press interview on Tuesday (Nov. 5), Taiwan Minister of Justice Tsai Ching-hsiang (蔡清祥) responded to Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌)'s remarks on capital punishments in Taiwan and said no time table has been set for death penalty executions.

According to Liberty Times, Su expressed his opinion during an interpellation at the Legislative Yuan, saying criminals who have committed serious crimes deserve the death penalty. Su provided examples to illustrate his point, stressing criminals such as arsonist Weng Jen-hsien (翁仁賢), who set fire to his own family, and Wang Ching-yu (王景玉), the main suspect of the "Little Light Bulb" case, should be executed once convicted.

Facing the heated topic, Tsai said the Ministry of Justice takes great caution handling the capital punishment cases. He added that the speed of the execution differs from case to case and there is not a fixed time schedule for death penalty.

Tsai further explained that the Ministry of Justice has to follow the "Implemental Guidelines of Executing Death Penalty Cases" to evaluate whether the cases are eligible for re-appeals or special amnesty from the President. He said the execution has to comply with the law, so speeding up or slowing down the process is not possible, reported ETtoday.