Detained for over 23 years, Chiou Ho-shun has been Taiwan’s longest detained criminal defendant in its longest running criminal case. The case was described recently by his lawyers as “a stain on our country’s legal [history].” Chiou Ho-shun and 10 of his co-defendants say they were tortured into making confessions and denied the right to communicate with anyone for the first four months of their detention. They were also denied a lawyer during the investigation and interrogations.

 
Chiou Ho-shun and his co-defendants later retracted their confessions. They were first tried by the District Court in connection with two separate crimes that took place in 1987: the kidnapping and murder of a nine-year-old boy Lu Cheng and the murder of Ko Hung Yu-lan.
The High Court recognized that violence and intimidation were used during the police investigation. The court did not exclude the full confession from evidence, it only excluded sections of the interrogation tapes where abuse of the suspects could be heard distinctly. The confessions also contained mutual contradictions and discrepancies on key facts.

Chiou Ho-shun was sentenced to death for robbery, kidnapping and murder in 1989. Of 12 defendants, only he was sentenced to death.  Chiou Ho-shun’s case has bounced back and forth between the High Court and the Supreme Court for retrial 11 times. All death penalty cases in Taiwan must be confirmed by the Supreme Court, which may choose to refer questionable cases back to the High Court for retrial during which new evidence may be submitted by the defence (the number of times this can be done is unlimited).

In 1994, two public prosecutors and 10 police officers handling the case of Lu Cheng were convicted of extracting confessions through torture. Police also admitted in 2003 that they had covered up and failed to investigate the fact that another death row inmate had confessed to the murders just before he was executed.

 After Chiou Ho-shun and his co-defendants were re-convicted at their 10th retrial in the High Court in 2009, the Supreme Court again ruled that the case was flawed, citing among others, claims that the convictions were based on coerced confessions.

The court sent the case back to the High Court for retrial for the 11th time. But again in May 2011 the High Court upheld Chiou Ho-shun’s death sentence. After this ruling, Chiou Ho-shun told the court: “I haven’t killed anyone. Why don’t judges have the courage to find me not guilty?” On 28 July 2011, Chiou Ho-shun lost his final appeal to the Supreme Court and on 25 August 2011 the Prosecutor General rejected a request to seek an extraordinary appeal for a retrial. Chiou Ho-shun could be executed at any time.

Appeal to the minister of Justice to:

• Stop the execution of Chiou Ho-shun by whatever judicial or other means available.
• Investigate the reports of torture and other ill-treatment and ensure that all statements resulting from such coercion are completely excluded from any re-trial.
• Ensure Chiou Ho-shun is re-tried in proceedings which comply with international fair trial standards.
• Suspend all executions and the imposition of death sentences as a step towards the total abolition of the death penalty. 
• Revise laws and change policies and practices to ensure fair trials in line with international standards. 
• Ensure that those sentenced to death have an effective opportunity to exercise their right to seek a pardon or commutation of their sentence in line with international standards.

“When the whole world is trying hard to save lives from COVID-19, an execution by the state is  contradictory and perverse” said Kevin Miguel Rivera Medina, President of the World Coalition  Against the Death Penalty. 

In a statement released today, ADPAN and the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty call on  all countries that still use the death penalty to impose a moratorium on death sentences and  executions on the ground that fair trials and fair legal representation are impossible to maintain  during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“While some countries now sentence people to death by videoconference, as in Nigeria or  Singapore, in others the prison restrictions have seriously infringed the rights of those awaiting  execution because courts are stalled and law firms are closed. Options to help people whose lives  are at risk are decreasing.” 

“The current global health crisis has demonstrated how profoundly unfair the system has been on  people already weakened by their heavy sentence. A lack of visits to people on death row and the  inability for lawyers and judges to work normally are all unfair consequences of an ill-equipped  system.” By comparison, those countries that have had the courage during this time to take a step,  big or small, towards abolition shows that our world is made better without this archaic, cruel and  degrading practice of capital punishment. For example, Cameroon, Kenya, Morocco and Zimbabwe  have granted commutations, which also extended to those sentenced to death.  

This 10 October, civil society will mobilize to celebrate the 18th World Day Against the Death  Penalty, which will focus on the right to legal representation and highlight the role of lawyers in  protecting those facing the death penalty. A right that is fractured by the health crisis since lawyers  are less able to assist their clients and who are also economically weakened.  

The Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN) expresses grave and serious concern in  relation to recent decisions taken by courts in Singapore and Nigeria to hand down the death  penalty over video conference. 

In Nigeria, on 4 May 2020 Olalekan Hameed was sentenced to death for allegedly murdering  his employer’s mother, and in Singapore on 15 May 2020, Punithan Genasan was sentenced  to death for his alleged role in a heroin transaction. Both sentences were provided via a  Zoom remote video call, and both men have been sentenced to death by hanging. 

The use of video conferencing technology like Zoom to hand down the death penalty, a  sentence with absolute finality, has been labelled as particularly callous by observers. When  an accused faces a potential sentence of death, the need to uphold their access to the highest  standard of fair trial rights is paramount. A court hearing that takes place via video  conferencing, raises a number of concerns including the accused’s ability to understand the  Court’s findings; their ability to properly instruct legal counsel and their access to interpreters  where necessary.  

ADPAN maintains that the death penalty is cruel and unusual in all circumstances and  advocates for the abolition of the death penalty worldwide. In the interim, we urge both  Nigeria and Singapore to not only suspend these sentences but also immediately cease the  use of video conferencing for death penalty cases.