May There Never Be Another "Hsu Tzu-chiang"

Hsu Tzu-chiang took the stage at the TEDxTaipei annual conference on 10/15 to share bits and pieces of his path to exoneration. This article is a profile jointly completed by JRF volunteers Lin Shu-yu and Chen Ta-chun. The organizer (TEDxTaipei) has also released the video and audio recording of that day.

I don't have any dreams. I only hope that there will never be another Hsu Tzu-chiang.
— Hsu Tzu-chiang

Regardless of whether you have heard the name Hsu Tzu-chiang before, A-chiang wanted to use his personal experience to tell you about these judicial human rights issues worth pondering.

If someone you have always trusted became a defendant in a criminal murder case today, are you certain you could still trust them without any preconditions and doubts? A-chiang threw out this question at the very beginning, which was truly startling, because not a single person could give a definite answer.

Perhaps out of nervousness, or perhaps recalling those dark years in prison once again between his words, during the speech A-chiang appeared exceptionally shy. The applause that rang out among the audience once again seemed to cheer on A-chiang and his family for the long years they bravely endured, but in any case we still cannot truly empathize with that pain. It is easy to adjudge a person guilty, but to prove innocence—and furthermore to prove something that was never done—took A-chiang twenty-one years.

All of this was because of "people." It was people who caused him to face such circumstances, and likewise because of people that he walked out of anger, despair, and a distrust of people. However, Taiwan's judiciary likewise needs "people" to become better. This is why many people ask A-chiang: "Do you still trust the judiciary?" He always answers: "I trust people; I believe people will change things."

From the Perspective of Justice

At the tripartite talk, the host asked A-chiang, what is justice to you?

A-chiang answered like this: "I don't know what justice is. When I was sentenced to death, everyone said this was justice, but when I was acquitted, everyone also said this is justice. So now I no longer explore what justice is; we can only do what is right."

A-chiang and the JRF's efforts toward judicial reform and wrongful conviction rescue will never stop. Today, standing on the TED annual conference stage, a mere six minutes was definitely not enough to tell the story of twenty-one years—a life that now occupies half of his years. A-chiang calmly told his story, hoping to arouse the audience's attention to judicial issues, and in my heart, it truly left a deep impact.