Hsin-fu and Shun Summer Action: Yunlin Douliu Lectures and Taipei Ximen March
Last edited: 2026-07-27
In June of this year, the exhibition "Ocean and Light" was held at Douliu Senior High School, allowing the rescue team to experience the enthusiasm of the students and deeply realizing that due to resources, time, and other constraints, we have relatively rarely visited Yunlin. This time, we will hold two afternoon events in Yunlin, hoping to invite everyone to attend lectures and watch films through these two days of activities, gaining a deeper understanding of the death penalty issue and the death-row wrongful conviction cases awaiting rescue—Chiou Ho-shun and Wang Hsin-fu.
▋Witnessing Chiou Ho-shun's Lost 36 Years of Life: Former Death-Row Inmates Hsu Tzu-chiang and Su Chien-ho Discuss the Years They Almost Faced State Execution
Time ｜ August 10, 2024 (Sat) 14:00-17:00
Location ｜ Ch'uang Sha Huo Art Classroom (2F, No. 66, Nanyang St., Douliu City, Yunlin County)
Moderator ｜ Wang Chun-sheng (Member of the Hsin-fu and Shun Volunteer Team)
Speaker ｜ Li Yü-ching (Member of the Hsin-fu and Shun Volunteer Team)
Discussants ｜ Su Chien-ho (Exonerated Death-Row Wrongful Conviction Survivor), Hsu Tzu-chiang (Exonerated Death-Row Wrongful Conviction Survivor)
Su Chien-ho was imprisoned for 21 years and finally acquitted in 2012.
"When I was tortured, my younger brother wasn't married yet; now he is already a grandfather, but I can only stand still in the same place. I hope that during my lifetime, I will no longer need to explain who I am. Of course, I know that the judiciary today is vastly different from the past, but do not treat me as if I'm air—I am still here, and the fact that I am still fighting lawsuits is reality. I keep a low profile, but I am still striving. Please let us all work hard together." — Su Chien-ho
The case of Su Chien-ho, Liu Bing-lang, and Chuang Lin-xun is a renowned death-row wrongful conviction case. In 1991, without any direct evidence proving the three were involved in the murder of the Wu couple in Hsichih Township, Taipei County, Su Chien-ho, Liu Bing-lang, and Chuang Lin-xun were sentenced to death in their third instance on February 4, 1995, along with lifelong deprivation of civil rights. On May 18, 2000, the High Court ruled to initiate a retrial, which went through the Supreme Court remanding the case to the High Court for retrial three times. On August 31, 2012, in the third retrial review, the three were finally acquitted. The period from being accused of the crime to the final acquittal spanned approximately 21 years.
Hsu Tzu-chiang was imprisoned for 16 years and finally acquitted in 2016.
"Every night before bed, I would put on the clothes prepared by my family that were meant for my execution. When I woke up the next day and found it wasn't my turn, I would fold them and put them away. Tomorrow? I didn't know if there would be a tomorrow."
Transitioning from a truck driver to running a small business, getting married, and having his son start elementary school, he originally lived an ordinary and stable life. However, in 1996, due to false incrimination by a co-defendant accusing him of involvement in the kidnapping and murder of Huang Chun-shu, he was detained at the age of 26 and wrongfully sentenced to death multiple times. This lasted for 16 years, and the judges handling his case were so numerous that even a father and daughter ended up judging the same case. Hsu's mother campaigned for years and even sold her house to continue the litigation, seeking only to vindicate her son. After learning about Ah-chiang's case, the JRF launched rescue operations. Meanwhile, Ah-chiang in death row spent his days wearing shackles in a 1.368-ping cell, living day after day under the shadow of potential execution. Sentenced to death in 2000 and acquitted in 2016, it took 22 years to escape the clutches of the state.
For this Yunlin Douliu wrongful conviction lecture, we have invited the two wrongfully convicted individuals to share their past experiences of being wrongfully imprisoned in the detention center for thousands of days, as well as the bits and pieces of reintegrating into society. This will allow us to better understand and empathize with the plight of Chiou Ho-shun, who has been trapped on death row for 36 years.
▋Why is the Oldest Death-Row Inmate Claiming He Was Wrongfully Accused? Screening and Post-Screening Discussion of "The Trial of Wang Hsin-fu"
Time ｜ August 11, 2024 (Sun) 14:00-17:00
Location ｜ Ch'uang Sha Huo Art Classroom (2F, No. 66, Nanyang St., Douliu City, Yunlin County)
Moderator ｜ Peng Hsiao-ju (Member of the Hsin-fu and Shun Volunteer Team)
Speaker ｜ Lo Li-han (Advocacy Specialist, Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty)
Information ｜ Ch'ien Hsiang, Chang Chuan-fen | Taiwan | Feature Film | 59 minutes | 2020 | Chinese and English Subtitles
"The Trial of Wang Hsin-fu" is adapted from a true story, faithfully presenting the trial process of a finalized death penalty case. It places the audience right in the courtroom scene, observing the sparring between the prosecution and the defense while sparking their own contemplation.
The film features many amateur actors; for example, Chang Hui-ching, Cheng Hsing-tse, and Chuang Lin-xun—who have prior experience as defendants—play judges; Hsu Tzu-chiang, who was once sentenced to death and later exonerated, plays the defendant Wang Hsin-fu; attorney Huang Chih-hao plays the lawyer; and Ma Shih-fang, who has nothing to do with the legal profession, plays the prosecutor, creating interesting echoes or contrasts both inside and outside the film.
Although "The Trial of Wang Hsin-fu" is a courtroom drama transcending eras, it still adequately portrays the true appearance of many courtrooms today. Through the interaction among the judge, prosecutor, and defense attorney in the courtroom, it concretely and concisely enables the audience to deeply understand the flaws and deficiencies in the trial process of this case within just one hour.
The question "Wronging a bad person is no big deal, right?" is worth reflecting upon by every lay judge who has the opportunity to participate in a trial.
▋August 13 "National Day is Dead, Hoping for Hsin-fu and Shun's Return" — Wrongfully Convicted Death-Row Inmates Take to the Streets
Time ｜ August 13, 2024 (Tue) 19:00 - 20:00
Location ｜ Exit 6, Ximen MRT Station
Schedule ｜ 18:30 Gathering, 19:00 Marching around Ximending, 19:30 Street Speeches
On August 13 of 2022 and 2023, besides the rescue team, a group of young volunteers concerned about the Chiou Ho-shun case spontaneously took to the streets, using street speeches to let more people know about death-row wrongful conviction cases. August 13, 1997, was the day Chiang Kuo-ching was executed. Although the case was finally vindicated 15 years later, Chiang Kuo-ching's life could never be brought back. Most of these young volunteers are students born after 2000 who never experienced the year 1997 when Chiang Kuo-ching was executed. They are shocked by Chiang Kuo-ching's injustice and Taiwan's past, and even more worried about the future of Wang Hsin-fu and Chiou Ho-shun, fearing the state might repeat the same tragic mistake.
27 years have passed since Chiang Kuo-ching was executed by firing squad, yet unfortunately, the pace of our judicial progress has been too small, while the ages of these two men are too advanced. Wang Hsin-fu is 72 years old this year, and Chiou Ho-shun is 64 years old. Their physical conditions force us to race against time, compelling us to terminate the erroneous judgment before their lives end.
The life stories of every wrongful conviction case are like this—a twist of fate that one could never have imagined. Wang Hsin-fu and Chiou Ho-shun are naturally no exception. They did not kill anyone, yet the death penalty closely followed them, shrinking their freedom down to a cramped space of a little over one ping in the detention center. Over thirty years, youth has long since vanished, and beards and hair have turned white.
In countries with the death penalty, whether due to judicial errors and omissions, institutional gaps, or human negligence, the risk of lives being wrongfully taken due to misjudgments is impossible to 100% perfectly avoid. However, whoever has to bear the tragedy, as the wheel of fate keeps spinning, no one can stand aloof.
"I often feel that we have selective a sense of justice and selective passion. Dinosaur judges handing down sentences that are too lenient is outrageous because we feel it relates to us. But what about when they judge wrongly? Why doesn't it concern us then?" We close with Director Li Chia-huai's sharing from the concert of the documentary *The Kidnapping of Chiang Kuo-ching* (Note: *My Son is a Death Row Inmate*), hoping that profound reflection can be implanted in more people's hearts; the banality of evil, the evil of being a bystander, the evil of turning a blind eye—we all share in it together.
On August 13 of this year, "National Day is Dead, Hoping for Hsin-fu and Shun's Return—Wrongfully Convicted Death-Row Inmates Take to the Streets," we will once again play the role of death-row inmates suffering from injustice, inviting everyone to take to the streets with us, to speak up for Chiou Ho-shun and Wang Hsin-fu who are still awaiting rescue, allowing more citizens to know about these two cases and remember Chiang Kuo-ching's case once again. Time may have passed, but let us not forget. Only in this way can we embrace a sense of caution and fear, and properly understand Wang Hsin-fu, Chiou Ho-shun, and every innocent person awaiting rescue under judicial errors.
This article is an AI-generated translation of the original Chinese text. In the event of any discrepancy, the Chinese version shall prevail.