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Updated Friday, March 12, 2010 9:34 am TWN, CNA

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Executions must be carried out according to law: spokesman

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- The Presidential Office yesterday said that “the administration must abide by the law,” referring to a statement by Minister of Justice Wang Ching-feng two days earlier that no executions will be carried out during her tenure.

Wang published an article in her capacity as justice minister Tuesday, stating that abolition of the death penalty should be done to defend the right to life laid out in the Constitution. She reaffirmed her stance the following day when challenged on her position that she would rather step down than approve an execution.

Presidential Office spokesman Lo Chih-chiang said that “in a constitutional country, everything must be done according to the law. Executions of death row inmates can only be postponed when there is a legally sufficient reason. Otherwise, the Ministry of Justice must handle it properly in line with the law.”

Lo added that although the abolition of capital punishment is an international trend, in Taiwan there is no consensus on the issue and that it requires a lot of rational discussion.

The government will study how to revise the law to reduce the number of capital punishments, and in the meantime, extend the jail terms for severe crimes and raise the parole threshold, he said.

Premier Wu Den-yih also advocated that capital punishment should be carried out if the legal process has reached its end and there are no constitutional complications.

Wang, who has received support from various people, including lawyers, has been facing criticism from all sides, especially from the families of kidnap and murder victims.

Actress Pai Ping-ping, whose daughter Pai Hsiao-yen was kidnapped and murdered in 1997, said in a press conference called by various legislators that day that the minister “had given her leniency to the wrong people.” Hsiao-yen's murderer, Chen Chin-hsing, was executed in October 1999 after being convicted of kidnapping, murder and multiple counts of sexual assault.

At present there are 44 death row inmates in Taiwan. Since December 2005, no executions have been carried out.

Several members of the Control Yuan said they hope to conduct an investigation to find out why the justice minister believes she can decline to order an execution.

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