Joint Statement | 17-Year-Old Boy Subjected to Collective Police Torture and Coerced Confession: Civil Society Groups Call for an End to Torture and the Urgent Passage of the Act to Implement the Convention Against Torture

According to media reports (referencing CNA, Liberty Times, United Daily News, etc.), three police officers from the Wuling Police Station under the Taoyuan Precinct, Taoyuan City Police Department, detained a 17-year-old surnamed Huang on February 18, 2024, as he passed by the station. Without clear evidence and under the pretext that the boy was suspected of kidnapping for ransom, they held him at the police station for 7 to 8 hours. During the interrogation, the boy was dragged by the neck into the interrogation room, where the three police officers took turns subjecting him to torture and forced confession using stun guns, batons, and iron boxes for over an hour, leaving multiple injuries on his body. In response, the Taoyuan Precinct stated that "the allegations regarding the experiences of the juvenile surnamed Huang have been found to be true through investigation," transferred the involved officers to the Taoyuan Prosecutors Office for criminal investigation, and expressed deep apologies to the victim, his family, and the public.

With the lessons of the past still fresh, the Control Yuan released an investigation report on September 13 of last year, revealing that prison management at the Taipei Prison involved illegal abuse and torture of inmates (refer to our statement). We are heartbroken that the abuse of power through torture and ill-treatment is not a "thing of the past" and continues to happen repeatedly!

Regarding the collective torture incident perpetrated by police officers from the Wuling Police Station on February 18, the Judicial Reform Foundation, Taiwan Police Rights Association, Taiwan Association for the Abolition of the Death Penalty, Taiwan Association for Innocence, Taiwan Association for Human Rights, Taiwan Covenants Watch, Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty, Taiwan Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, and Taiwan Association for Truth and Reconciliation issued a solemn statement of condemnation, putting forward four joint demands as follows:
1. The National Human Rights Commission must promptly intervene and investigate to clarify the course and causes of the incident and prevent similar occurrences.
2. The Premier of the Executive Yuan should promptly submit the draft Act to Implement the Convention Against Torture to the Legislative Yuan for deliberation.
3. The three major parties in Parliament should support the prompt passage of the Act to Implement the Convention Against Torture and propose their own amendment bills for this Act.
4. The National Police Agency should establish the "Police Special Project and Performance Management Committee" in accordance with the resolutions of the 2017 National Congress on Judicial Reform to thoroughly review the police performance system.

1. The National Human Rights Commission must promptly intervene and investigate to clarify the course and causes of the incident and prevent similar occurrences

Article 2, Subparagraph 1 of the Organic Act of the National Human Rights Commission of the Control Yuan stipulates: "The powers and functions of this Commission are as follows: 1. To investigate, handle, and provide remedies in accordance with the law—either upon its own initiative or upon petition—for incidents involving torture, human rights violations, or various forms of discrimination."

As mentioned above, the Taoyuan Precinct has stated that "the allegations regarding the experiences of the juvenile surnamed Huang have been found to be true through investigation," and has transferred the involved officers for criminal investigation. However, what is the precise scope of what has been found "true"? Has the police department fully acknowledged the allegations made by the juvenile at the press conference, or do matters still await clarification? Following the incident, Taoyuan City Councilor Ch'en Chiang-ts'un and the juvenile stated that the police should provide the body-worn camera footage of the officers during the handling of the case, only to be told by the police that the cameras were not turned on at the time. In this regard, there is still an urgent necessity to preserve the evidence of this torture case.

Aside from clarifying the factual basis of the crime in this case, numerous other issues warrant thorough investigation. First, this incident involved as many as "three" police officers collectively torturing the juvenile surnamed Huang, rather than an individual acting alone; according to the juvenile, other police officers were present in the police station at the time but failed to stop this severely improper conduct. Consequently, this Foundation questions whether an attitude of "tolerance" or even "acquiescence" toward torture exists within that police station.

Thorough reviews must be conducted on whether acts of torture are merely isolated incidents or part of similar other cases, as well as on the managerial responsibilities of relevant units, the shaping of investigative cultures, and factors that intensify law enforcement practices. Even though the Taoyuan Precinct has transferred the involved officers for investigation, the overall incident still relies on an external, independent third-party impartial body for investigation and oversight. We call upon the National Human Rights Commission that it cannot shirk this responsibility and should promptly initiate an investigation, interview the individuals involved, and preserve relevant evidence.

2. The Premier of the Executive Yuan should promptly submit the draft Act to Implement the Convention Against Torture to the Legislative Yuan for deliberation

From past miscarriage-of-justice victims such as Chiang Kuo-ch'ing, Su Chien-ho, and Chiou Ho-shun being coerced into false confessions and suffering wrongful deaths, to the recent Taipei Prison inmate abuse case and the current torture of the juvenile surnamed Huang, the importance and urgency of mechanisms to prevent torture are evident. Therefore, there is an absolute necessity to swiftly pass the Act to Implement the Convention Against Torture and establish an independent torture-prevention mechanism at the national level to ensure that all agencies implement the provisions of the Convention. Although the Executive Yuan completed the draft of the Act to Implement the Convention Against Torture in 2018 and submitted it to the Legislative Yuan for deliberation, it ultimately failed to pass its third reading in the Legislative Yuan and was left unresolved.

During the recent presidential and legislative elections, this Foundation put forward "Seven Questions on Judicial Reform" to all political parties, which included asking whether they would support the prompt passage of the Act to Implement the Convention Against Torture within one year of taking office. In response, the Democratic Progressive Party made a clear commitment to promptly promote and pass this Act.

Yesterday (the 22nd), the Executive Yuan passed through its cabinet meeting the referral of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance to the Legislative Yuan for deliberation. In this regard, we hold high expectations that Premier Chien-Jen Chen will likewise swiftly submit the draft Act to Implement the Convention Against Torture during his final term, thereby perfecting our nation's human rights protections and aligning with the international community.

3. The three major parties in Parliament should support the prompt passage of the Act to Implement the Convention Against Torture and propose their own amendment bills for this Act

In addition to the Democratic Progressive Party, the Kuomintang and the Taiwan People's Party also committed in our "Seven Questions on Judicial Reform" to passing this Act. In other words, there is a high degree of consensus among the three parties regarding the prompt passage of this legislation.

In this regard, we call upon all party caucuses in the Legislative Yuan to squarely face the reality that torture still exists in contemporary Taiwanese society, actively support the passage of the Act to Implement the Convention Against Torture, and swiftly put forward their respective party versions of the draft Act to Implement the Convention Against Torture to facilitate its deliberation.

4. The National Police Agency should establish the "Police Special Project and Performance Management Committee" in accordance with the resolutions of the 2017 National Congress on Judicial Reform to thoroughly review the police performance system

For many years, the unscientific and unreasonable performance demands within our police system have not only driven frontline grassroots officers to exhaustion but have even led some to take desperate risks and enforce the law through illegal means. The public still vividly remembers improper law enforcement cases such as the "great arm-lock" incident at the Chungli Precinct in Taoyuan and the incident where the Sanchung Precinct in New Taipei City "arrested the wrong person and injured a citizen."

To resolve these issues, Resolution No. 69-2 of the 2017 National Congress on Judicial Reform explicitly requested the establishment of a "Police Special Project and Performance Management Committee" under the Ministry of the Interior, with more than half of its members comprising external commissioners, in order to construct a reasonable performance system (including publishing the calculation criteria, calculation methods, and justifications for performance evaluation items). However, on December 20, 2017, the National Police Agency vetoed the aforesaid resolution, once again evading grassroots scrutiny of the performance system and escaping the opportunity for convention-based mechanisms to oversee state police powers.

We believe that the recent frequent chaos in law enforcement and the worsening pressure and workload on police officers further highlight the problems within the police performance system and the importance of legalizing related principles. Accordingly, we once again call upon the National Police Agency to establish the "Police Special Project and Performance Management Committee" in accordance with the resolution and thoroughly review the police performance system.

Aside from issuing condemnation, civil society groups will continue to monitor various incidents of police violence and track their follow-up to ensure that victimized citizens receive adequate protection, while urging relevant agencies to take active disciplinary and remedial actions.

The New Taipei District Court is scheduled to hold a trial hearing at 2:30 PM on Thursday, April 18, regarding the September 2022 Sanchung Precinct incident where police "arrested the wrong person and injured a citizen." We call upon concerned citizens to attend the trial as observers and jointly monitor acts of police violence.

Declaring Organizations (9 Organizations in Total)

Judicial Reform Foundation
Taiwan Police Rights Association
Taiwan Association for the Abolition of the Death Penalty
Taiwan Association for Innocence
Taiwan Covenants Watch
Taiwan Association for Human Rights
Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty
Taiwan Criminal Defense Lawyers Association
Taiwan Association for Truth and Reconciliation

Press Contacts

Lü Cheng-yen, Attorney-at-Law, Director of the Legal Policy Department, Judicial Reform Foundation
Phone: 02-2523-1178#37
Email: elvin@jrf.org.tw