Chen Chu calls for truth about Lin I-hsiung family murders

Taipei, Aug. 31 (CNA) The government's transitional justice work will remain "incomplete" until the truth behind the murder of pro-democracy campaigner Lin I-hsiung's (林義雄) family in 1980 is uncovered, Control Yuan President Chen Chu (陳菊) said Saturday.

Chen, who along with Lin was a key figure in the 1979 pro-democracy demonstrations that later became known as the Kaohsiung Incident, urged the government to re-investigate Lin's case and the death of professor Chen Wen-chen (陳文成) one year later.

Both cases sent shock waves through society at a time when the country was still under the rule of the authoritarian Kuomintang government.

While lauding the government's efforts to promote transitional justice over the past eight years, Chen said such work would remain "incomplete" if the two notorious cases stay unresolved.

Chen, who is also head of the National Human Rights Commission under the government watchdog, added that the chance of solving these two cases is growing slimmer by the day.

She made the comments at an historical political crimes exoneration event in Taipei attended by President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) and Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰).

In response to Chen's calls, Lai said it was the government's responsibility to restore the truth of all "tragic incidents" that occurred during the White Terror era, a period of political repression from 1949-1992 in Taiwan.

However, the president did not lay out any concrete pathway to achieving that goal, saying only the government would "continue to make every effort" on the matter.

Saturday's event marked the exoneration of 2,579 victims of judicial and administrative wrongdoing during the period of authoritarian rule approved by the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) from October 2023 to June this year, according to the Restoration of Victim's Rights Infringed by Illegal Acts of the State During the Period of Authoritarian Rule Foundation.

As of now, the government had awarded damages of NT$4.7 billion (US$146.8 million) to those victims, said the foundation, which was established in February 2023 after the dissolution of the Transitional Justice Commission (TJC).

The brutal killing of Lin's family, including his 60-year-old mother Lin Yu A-mei (林游阿妹) and his 7-year-old twin daughters, Lin Liang-chun (林亮均) and Lin Ting-chun (林亭均), occurred on Feb. 28, 1980, when Lin, then a provincial councilor, was imprisoned for his involvement in the Kaohsiung Incident.

All three were stabbed to death in their home, with Lin's eldest daughter Lin Huan-chun (林奐均), who was then 9 years old, surviving with life-threatening injuries.

No perpetrators have been apprehended in the murders, and a report released by the Control Yuan in 2022 pointed out several major flaws in the investigation into the case by the Taiwan Garrison Command, a state security force that has since been disbanded.

As for Chen Wen-chen, a mathematics professor in the United States who had been active in promoting Taiwan's democratic movement, a report issued by the TJC in July 2021 suggested that he might have been murdered by the authorities in Taiwan in 1981.

Chen was found dead outside National Taiwan University library, shortly after he returned on a vacation to Taiwan from the U.S.

The day before Chen died, he was summoned by the Taiwan Garrison Command, and his death, at the age of 31, is considered by many to have been government reprisal for his activism abroad.