Rescuing Hsu Tzu-chiang, Never Give Up! The Supreme Court Dismisses the Prosecutor-General's Fourth Extraordinary Appeal for Hsu Tzu-chiang

The Judicial Reform Foundation (hereinafter JRF) issued the following statement this evening (the 6th) upon learning that the Supreme Court dismissed the fourth extraordinary appeal filed by the Prosecutor-General on behalf of Hsu Tzu-chiang:

Prior to this, the JRF was unaware that the Prosecutor-General had filed a fourth extraordinary appeal for Hsu Tzu-chiang, and therefore had no way of knowing the grounds upon which the Prosecutor-General filed the extraordinary appeal once again.

Currently, the JRF has not yet received the judgment from the Supreme Court dismissing this extraordinary appeal, and therefore cannot know the reasoning behind the Supreme Court's dismissal.

Nevertheless, the JRF maintains that it is utterly unacceptable for a court to sentence Hsu Tzu-chiang to death based solely on the contradictory confessions of co-defendants without any other evidence to prove his involvement—a judgment that disregards criminal defendants' human rights and due process of law. In particular, the new criminal procedure system implemented on September 1 of last year (2003) specifically requires judges to adopt the "strict rules of evidence" when adjudicating cases, and stipulates that unfavorable statements by co-defendants must be subject to procedural separation and cross-examination. Today, the Supreme Court clearly ignores the spirit of the new system in safeguarding human rights, and the JRF expresses its utmost regret in this regard.

Facing this case fraught with doubts, the JRF calls upon Minister of Justice Ch'en Ting-nan to stay the execution, and hopes that the Grand Justices will soon issue a clear interpretation as to whether the judgment in this case is unconstitutional (Note: Since the JRF submitted the constitutional interpretation petition for Hsu Tzu-chiang on October 1 of last year, it has not yet received a response from the Grand Justices). At the same time, the JRF declares that the work of the Foundation and other human rights organizations to rescue Hsu Tzu-chiang will "never give up"! For a nation that prides itself on being "founded on human rights" must never tolerate the judiciary carelessly taking a life!