DPP government condemned for executing death row inmate

Taipei, Jan. 17 (CNA) Human rights groups have condemned the execution of a death row prisoner in Taiwan, calling it an attempt by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government to reverse political headwinds.

"We strongly condemn the attempt of the Lai Ching-te (賴清德) government to use the implementation of the death penalty to divert attention from his current political predicament," the groups said in a joint statement issued hours after Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱) was executed Thursday night at the Taipei Detention Center.

They were likely referring to the lack of a breakthrough by the Lai administration to end the legislative impasse over several bills and the central government's budget plans for 2025.

Speaking to reporters at an event in Taichung on Friday, Lai said the death penalty was constitutional, and he expressed hope for public support for the government's action in accordance with the law.

He did not respond, however, to a question about whether the execution was carried out to boost his government's approval rating, given the public's consistent backing of the death penalty.

A survey released by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation in December found that Lai's approval rating actually increased by 8.5 percentage points from a month earlier to 51.3 percent, despite a majority of respondents supporting several opposition-endorsed bills.

In the statement, the groups said the execution, signed off on by Justice Minister Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙), violated procedural justice and the Constitutional Court's ruling on the death penalty last year.

Carrying out the death sentence will not bring about a safer society or improve public trust in the government. Instead, the groups said, it will "render a more bloodthirsty society and deepen public resentment against the government."

In September 2024, the Constitutional Court ruled the death penalty to be constitutional only for "the most serious" premeditated murders and crimes leading to death, further limiting its use in the future.

The ruling also said the 37 death row convicts who had brought their cases to the court after exhausting appeal measures, including Huang, might petition the head prosecutor of the Supreme Prosecutors Office to file extraordinary appeals for them.

The groups called for giving the remaining 36 death row inmates sufficient time to petition the Supreme Prosecutors Office and for a moratorium on their executions until Prosecutor-General Hsing Tai-chao (邢泰釗) has reviewed their petitions.

The statement was issued by the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty, the Judicial Reform Foundation, the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, and the Covenants Watch.

Meanwhile, in a statement issued on Thursday (Brussels time), the European Union said it "recalls its opposition to the capital punishment in all cases and all circumstances" while expressing its "sincere sympathy to the family of the victims" in Huang's case.

It urged Taiwan to "apply and maintain a de facto moratorium, and to pursue a consistent policy towards the full abolition of the death penalty."

In a statement Thursday night confirming the death of the 32-year-old Huang, the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) said the death penalty by shooting was carried out according to the law to "ensure social justice" while taking into account human rights protections.

It was Taiwan's first execution since Lai took office on May 20, 2024.

The MOJ said Huang, who was sentenced to death in 2017 for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend and the murder of her mother in New Taipei's Sanchong District on Oct. 1, 2013, had committed the most serious crime.

The Supreme Prosecutors Office reviewed Huang's case and determined that there were no grounds for filing an extraordinary appeal, the ministry added, contending that the execution was in compliance with the Constitutional Court ruling.