補上兩篇關於台灣死刑的公開信 (2 open letters on death penalty in Taiwan)

這兩篇公開信放在這裡有兩個原因,其一,死刑到底要不要廢的議題是我比較沒有系統想法的一個議題,因為沒有什麼想法,也沒辦法講什麼. 其二, 這裡現在就只是個備份的作用了. 既然已經搬到新的部落格去,這裡雜亂無章應該也沒關係吧:P 所以補貼兩個"過時"的公開信也不會顯得太突兀.

這兩篇公開信分別是國際特赦組織(Amnesty Int’l)與國際人權組織(Internationl Federation for human rights) 發出的,呼籲台灣繼續往廢死的方向走. 其中,FIDH在五月還對台灣繼續執行死刑發出譴責.

以下.

—-

第一封公開信

Open letter on death penalty in Taiwan

18 March 2010

President of the Republic of China (Taiwan)
Ma Ying-jeou
Office of the President
No. 122, Sec. 1, Chongqing S. Rd
Zhongzheng District
Taipei City 100
Taiwan (R.O.C)

18 March 2010

Your Excellency

OPEN LETTER ON DEATH PENALTY IN TAIWAN

Amnesty International has noted the recent debate on the death penalty sparked by former Minister of Justice Wang Ching-feng’s open support for a moratorium on executions and her subsequent resignation. We write to ask you to ensure that Taiwan remains firm in reaching for its stated goal of abolition of the death penalty.

We welcomed the assurances you gave us and other groups at our meeting on 18 June 2008, that Taiwan’s de facto moratorium would remain in place. We urge you not to waiver from this stance. The lives of the 44 inmates on death row must not be compromised because of the current political controversy.

We look to Taiwan as a leader in the region on progress toward abolition. We hope that Taiwan’s support for a moratorium, along with Mongolia’s, where President Elbegdorj formally announced a moratorium in January 2010, will influence the governments of Japan and the People’s Republic of China to take similar steps themselves.

As you stated during your meeting with the Prosecutors’ Association on 15 March 2010, Taiwan must increase the public debate and education about the death penalty. We see the public attention surrounding the nomination of a new Minister of Justice as an opportunity to highlight the death penalty as the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment, one that runs the risk of irrevocable error, fails to provide restorative justice to victims’ families, and has not been proven to have any special deterrent effect. The current public debate presents an opportunity to promote the global trend towards abolition, as now more than two-thirds of the countries of the world have abolished the death penalty in law or in practice, and to urge public support to this trend ahead of the United Nations General Assembly vote on a global moratorium scheduled for December 2010.

In a time of heightened political debate, we urge you to demonstrate leadership and continue on the path toward abolition.

Yours sincerely
Claudio Cordone
Secretary General (ad interim)

公開信二:

Open letter to the Minister of Justice of Taiwan

Mr. Tseng Yung-fu

Paris-Taipei, 26 March 2010

Re: The death penalty in Taiwan

Excellency,

We are writing to you further to your statement of March 22, quoted in the Central News Agency, regarding the application of the death penalty in Taiwan.

We welcome the fact that you ordered a review of the cases of the 44 prisoners on death row in Taiwan, which in practice provides more time for in-depth thinking about further steps. We also appreciate last year’s extremely important measures by the government of Taiwan towards the restriction of the use of capital punishment and further progress in the field of human rights. This includes the ratification of the two UN Covenants, respectively on civil and political rights and on economic, social and cultural rights, in April 2009. The establishment by your predecessor of a Task Force on research and promotion of gradual abolishment in the Ministry of Justice, bringing together academics, NGOs, lawyers and other stakeholders to propose alternative measures to replace the death penalty is equally important. This Task Force reportedly held its first meeting earlier this week, and we strongly believe that this initiative should be continued, with a precise workplan and timeframe. Raising awareness among the people of Taiwan on the strong arguments against the death penalty, and the available alternative measures, should be an integral part of the Task Force’s mandate. Awareness raising among magistrates and the judiciary also appears crucial.

We are quite aware that the issue of the death penalty triggers heated debate in the Taiwanese public opinion, and understand that abolishment will be a gradual process. We also welcome the fact that you were quoted as saying that “The option of abolishing is still open”.

We would like, in this context, to draw your attention on the petition filed by the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty (TAEDP) to the Grand Justices for constitutional review on behalf of 14 death row prisoners regarding the lack of legal representation in the third trial(the Supreme Court). TAEDP filed a second petition to the Grand Justices on March 11, 2010, requesting a stay on execution of all 44 death row prisoners while the above-mentioned constitutional review is still pending. In that regard, we urge you to guarantee that no execution will take place before the Grand Justices will rule on this petition, since this would be a clear breach of international human rights standards relating to the death penalty, which impose that all remedies must have been exhausted before any execution can take place.

Last but not least, we believe that certain legislative amendments should be proposed by your government as a matter of urgency, in order to strengthen the procedural safeguards relating to the death penalty in Taiwan. This includes the fact that capital punishment should be decided unanimously by the court ; the public hearing and verbal debates of the two parties should be held at the level of the Supreme Court; and the legal representation of people convicted to the death sentence should be compulsory at every trial.

We sincerely hope that you will take our suggestions into due account, and remain fully available for any further discussion on this key issue.

Yours sincerely

Souhayr Belhassen
President of Fédération Internationale des ligues des Droits de l’Homme
and
Lin Chia-Fan
Chairperson of Taiwan Association for Human Rights