COR Point 58 The Prohibition of Torture (ICCPR Article 7)
An investigation by the Control Yuan discovered in May 2010 that Air Force private Chiang Kuo-ching had been wrongly executed on August 13, 1997 after being accused of raping and murdering a young girl in September 1996. The Control Yuan investigation report found that the then Air Force Political Warfare Section Commander and later defense minister (from May 2008 to September 2009) Chen Chao-min, had violated the Code of Court Martial Procedure by entrusting the investigation of the case to the Air Force headquarters counter-intelligence section which did not have the status as military police officers. This squad tortured Chiang Kuo-ching, who was not linked with the rape-murder, to extract a confession. The squad paid no heed to the confession by another Air Force enlisted man named Hsu that he had committed the crime and rapidly sent Chiang to court-martial and execution in gross violation of his judicial human rights. There has of yet not been any concrete action to pursue the responsibility for Chiang’s wrongful execution. Prosecutors have repeatedly decided not to indict the responsible persons in substantive contradiction to Point 58 of the Conclusions and Recommendations which mandates that there can be no immunity for perpetrators of torture and who must be brought to justice.
On July 4, 2013, the case of the death through mistreatment of Army specialist Hung Chung-chiu erupted. On July 31, 2013, military prosecutors indicted several officers and non-commissioned officers on suspicion of abusing Hung. Subsequently, due to a changes in the legal system, the case was transferred to civilian prosecutors. The case is still in legal process with some officers pursuing conciliation through compensation with the family of the deceased while others are still appealing convictions on convictions. Amnesty International issued a declaration which stated that the case and the government’s response demonstrated the need for Taiwan to ratify the Convention Against Torture” and realize its provisions in domestic law through enactment of an implementation act.119
On May 1, 2013, 23 Democratic Progressive Party Legislators introduced a draft “Act for the Prevention of Crimes Against Humanity and Torture.” Article 3 of the draft act mandated that “the deliberate causing of extreme pain or suffering to other persons by public employees or public officials, regardless of their nationality or citizenship, when carrying out their public duties or intending to carrying out public duties, within our country’s borders or in any other location, will be defined as torture.” This definition is still not as precise as written in the CAT and does not clearly state which agency would be responsible for investigating such crimes. This draft bill has many problems and we would not welcome its rushed enactment in a third reading. The draft bill was not passed before the end of the term of the Eighth Legislative Yuan in December 2015 and would require reintroduction into the current Ninth Legislative Yuan which took its seats February 1, 2016.120
- The English language statement can be accessed at http://www.amnesty.tw/?p=1618.
- The draft bill introduced by 23 opposition Democratic Progressive Party legislators during the Eighth Legislative Yuan can be viewed (in Chinese) at: http://misq.ly.gov.tw/MISQ/IQuery/misq5000QueryBillDetail.action?billNo=1020419070201200A similar bill had been introduced by 24 lawmakers in the Seventh Legislative Yuan on June 8, 2011.