Joint Statement | When Will Human Rights Conventions Pass and Police Violence End? Civil Society Action Statement on the Incident of Pingtung County Police Officers Suspected of Beating a Suspect to Death

According to news reports (refer to Liberty Times Net, United Daily News, etc.), Police Officer Ch'en at the Chien-min Police Station of the Hengchun Precinct, Pingtung County Police Bureau, was allegedly involved in using a baton to suppress and thrust into the abdomen of a 50-year-old motorcycle theft suspect surnamed Ts'ai, and the three police officers present "conveniently" failed to turn on their body-worn cameras. Afterward, the police brought Suspect Ts'ai back to the police station, and upon preparing to take his statement, found that Suspect Ts'ai had collapsed and was unresponsive; after being sent to the hospital, he still died from a ruptured pancreas. The Chief of the Pingtung County Police Bureau expressed deep grief over this case, and although the implicated Police Officer Ch'en denied excessive use of force, he was still detained without communication by the Pingtung District Prosecutors Office on the 24th after being requested for detention on charges of injury resulting in death.
Recently, incidents of police abuse of force have emerged endlessly. Nine organizations, including the Judicial Reform Foundation, Taiwan Police Rights Association, Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty, Taiwan Association for Innocence, Taiwan Association for Human Rights, Taiwan Covenants Watch, Taiwan Association for Truth and Reconciliation, and Taiwan Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, already issued a stern statement on the 23rd of this month regarding a case of collective police torture and coercion of confessions, demanding the prompt establishment of a mechanism for the prevention of torture and a thorough review of the police performance evaluation system (refer to our joint statement).

Unexpectedly, news on the following day revealed the aforementioned incident of suspected excessive police enforcement leading to death. We sternly condemn this and reiterate the following four major demands:
1. The National Human Rights Commission should intervene in the investigation as soon as possible to clarify the course and causes of the incident, so as to prevent similar incidents from happening again.
2. The Premier of the Executive Yuan should submit the draft Enforcement Act of the Convention against Torture to the Legislative Yuan for deliberation as soon as possible.
3. The three major parties in Congress should support the prompt passage of the Enforcement Act of the Convention against Torture and propose amendment drafts regarding this Act.
4. The National Police Agency should establish a "Police Special Project and Performance Management Commission" in accordance with the resolutions of the 2017 National Congress on Judicial Reform to thoroughly review the police performance evaluation system.

We call upon the government and the general public to squarely face the fact that problems such as third-degree torture, torture, and the abuse of official authority still exist in today's Taiwanese society and continue to occur.

In view of the recent frequent chaos in police law enforcement and the recurrent incidents of citizens being harmed by official authority, this Foundation will hold a press conference and a surrounding march action from 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM on March 13. On the day of the press conference, in addition to reviewing several past state violence incidents, we will also invite various party caucuses to attend in support of our organization's hope for the prompt passage of the Enforcement Act of the Convention against Torture and to sign a letter of intent. After the press conference concludes, we will invite organizations and the public to jointly march around the Legislative Yuan to express our demands.

Press Conference Time

March 13 (Wed) 11:30

Press Conference Location

No. 1, Sec. 1, Jinan Rd., Zhongzheng Dist., Taipei City (in front of Qunxian Hall)

Action Organizations

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

Press Contact

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