Taiwan death row inmate dies of illness; 34 remain

Taipei, Sept. 15 (CNA) Death row inmate Lin Wang-jen (林旺仁), who was convicted of setting fire to a karaoke bar that killed five people in 2004, died of an illness on Monday, authorities confirmed.

With Lin's passing, the number of inmates on death row has dropped to 34, correctional authorities confirmed late Monday, after local media reported that the prisoner had died in hospital.

Lin, an Yilan County resident, was sentenced to death in a 2004 case that reached the Supreme Court, which in 2011 upheld his death sentence for murder. Since then, he had been on death row.

According to the court rulings, Lin set fire to a karaoke bar in Keelung on June 16, 2004, after he became upset with his wife for accepting a job there. He poured gasoline inside the bar and set it ablaze, killing five people, the courts said. His wife was not in the bar at the time.

In 2022, Lin was among 14 death row inmates who filed a petition seeking a presidential pardon or commutation.

The petition was filed with the Taipei High Administrative Court, which rejected it, saying it had no jurisdiction over the matter.

Following a Constitutional Court ruling in 2024 that the death penalty is constitutional but only for the most serious crimes, Lin in 2015 filed for a retrial and sought a suspension of his execution based on the ruling. Both requests were ultimately rejected by the courts.

Lin's demise follows that of another death row inmate, Ouyang Jung (歐陽榕) , who died of an illness in January. With the passing of those two prisoners, the number of inmates on death row in Taiwan has dropped to 34.