Urging the Chief Prosecutor of the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office to Rescue Chiou Ho-shun Pursuant to the "Directions for Prosecutors' Offices Handling Applications for Review of Final Convictions"

This morning (May 4) at 11:00 AM, the volunteer legal team for the Chiou Ho-shun case and supporting groups jointly paid a visit to Wang T'ien-sheng, Chief Prosecutor of the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office, to submit the "Opinion Letter Urging Review of a Final Conviction" (hereinafter the "Opinion Letter") for the Chiou Ho-shun case.

The Ministry of Justice promulgated the "Directions for Prosecutors' Offices Handling Applications for Review of Final Convictions" (hereinafter the "Directions") in 2017. Its purpose is to fulfill prosecutors' objective obligations and establish a review mechanism for final convictions in order to discover the truth and prevent miscarriages of justice.

Therefore, pursuant to Point 4 of the Directions, the volunteer legal team and supporting groups submitted the Opinion Letter to the Chief Prosecutor of the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office, urging the Chief Prosecutor to convene a review meeting in accordance with the Directions to initiate retrial or extraordinary appeal proceedings for the Chiou Ho-shun case.

The volunteer legal team stated that the Opinion Letter submitted this time represents a major breakthrough in scientific evidence, based on a forensic report commissioned by the volunteer legal team in 2017 from Walker Voiceprint Identification Laboratory, a U.S.-based firm.

The Walker Voiceprint Identification Laboratory re-examined the "voiceprint identification" conducted by the Criminal Investigation Bureau of the National Police Agency, Ministry of the Interior in 1988 regarding the extortion phone call recordings using current technology and instruments. It concluded that the identification results produced by the Criminal Investigation Bureau were "scientifically unreliable" and insufficient to establish that the extortion recording of co-defendant Yü Chih-hsiang was made by the same person as the perpetrator. Therefore, this forensic report from the voiceprint identification laboratory can overturn the sole physical evidence relied upon by the original final conviction. Furthermore, the Opinion Letter also presents transcripts of interviews conducted by the Control Yuan with two retired police officers, which prove that the defendants in the Chiou Ho-shun case were indeed subjected to torture and other improper interrogations during police questioning. Their confessions should be inadmissible as evidence, and grounds for a retrial and extraordinary appeal should be recognized.

During the visit, Chief Prosecutor of the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office Wang T'ien-sheng responded that upon receiving the Opinion Letter, cases would be assigned in accordance with the Directions and handled by the assigned prosecutor. If the review committee determines through its review that an extraordinary appeal or retrial is necessary, the matter will be submitted for the reference of the Prosecutor-General or the assigned prosecutor.

After the Supreme Court dismissed his appeal and his conviction became final in 2011, Chiou Ho-shun remains detained in the Taipei Detention Center to this day. The Control Yuan successively issued investigative reports in 2013 and 2014, and Prosecutor-General Yen Ta-ho also filed an extraordinary appeal with the Supreme Court in 2016, though it was dismissed by the Supreme Court in July 2017. During this visit, the volunteer legal team and supporting groups called upon the Chief Prosecutor to accept the Opinion Letter and convene a review committee to clarify the controversies of the case, with the expectation of implementing the review mechanism for final convictions and jointly discovering the truth to prevent miscarriages of justice.

Attachments

"Opinion Letter Urging Review of a Final Conviction"

Visiting Representatives

Yu Po-hsiang / Volunteer Lawyer for the Chiou Ho-shun Case
Lin Chun-hung / Volunteer Lawyer for the Chiou Ho-shun Case
Cheng Kai-hung / Volunteer Lawyer for the Chiou Ho-shun Case
Lo Shih-hsiang / Executive Director, Taiwan Association for Innocent Victims
Li Chi-fang / Executive Committee Member, Taiwan Association for Human Rights
Lin Tzu-wei / Legal Affairs Director, Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty
Huang Ying-chia / Legal Affairs Director, Judicial Reform Foundation
Chang Ch'ih / Legal Affairs Specialist, Judicial Reform Foundation

Organizations Submitting the Opinion Letter

Judicial Reform Foundation
Taiwan Association for Innocent Victims
Taiwan Association for Human Rights
Taiwan Criminal Defense Lawyers Association
Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty