MA’S MESSENGER?Lawyer Chou Wu-jung said that the minister of justice’s trip to China was highly inappropriate due to concerns over national security leaks

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 03, 2016
By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter

On returning to Taiwan late on Friday from a landmark visit to China, a country infamous for its high execution rate, Minister of Justice Luo Ying-shay (羅瑩雪) said her ministry would tread carefully when dealing with cases involving capital punishment.

Addressing calls by some groups to execute convicted offenders on death row, Luo said the Ministry of Justice would deal with the issue in a prudent manner, adding that the ministry has formed a “special review committee” for capital punishment cases that involve potential miscarriages of justice.

A plan to set up the committee came before a four-year-old girl was decapitated in Taipei on Monday.

“In the aftermath of the case, everyone sees the need for this special review committee to implement and carry out its mandate,” Luo said. “Therefore, we request prosecutors’ offices at all levels to pass on all cases involving capital punishment to the ministry for review by the committee.”

Luo said that she is unaware of the progress of the review process on various cases, so she does not know whether any inmates on death row would be executed before May 20, when President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration steps down.     [FULL  STORY]