ELECTION 2024/Ministry denies it is reluctant to carry out capital punishment

Taipei, Jan. 5 (CNA) The Ministry of Justice on Friday denied accusations that it was unwilling to carry out death sentences, saying that all 37 inmates on death row in Taiwan are currently engaged in the process of applying for legal remedies.

The prisoners have brought their cases to Taiwan's Constitutional Court and have therefore received a legally guaranteed stay of execution, the ministry said in a statement.

Opposition Kuomintang (KMT) vice presidential candidate Jaw Shau-kong (趙少康) attacked the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) earlier this week for neither trying to abolish capital punishment nor daring to carry out executions.

Since the DPP took power in May 2016, two people have been put to death under Taiwan's capital punishment laws.

In response, the ministry said the execution of the death penalty can only be immediate if the remedy process were eliminated, but it suggested that doing so might contradict Taiwan's legal system.

Taiwan has written two United Nations' human rights-related covenants -- namely the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) -- into domestic law.

Presidential election debate

Taiwan's presidential candidates tackled the death penalty issue in a televised debate last week, with only the KMT's Hou You-yi (侯友宜) clearly stating his opposition to the abolition of capital punishment.

DPP presidential candidate Lai Ching-te (賴清德) described it as a sensitive issue in any country, and that abolishing it required a high degree of public support.

While neither the ICCPR and the ICESCR requires abolishing the death penalty, they do call for extra discretion in deciding whether to carry out executions, Lai argued.

In fact, the ICESCR does not mention the death penalty.

The ICCPR says it "may be imposed only for the most serious crimes in accordance with the law" and can only be carried out "pursuant to a final judgment rendered by a competent court."

Meanwhile, Taiwan People's Party presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) argued that given the global trend away from enforcing the death penalty, the only compromise he could think of was to not allow people who have been given a life sentence to be paroled.

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