Event | When Will Hsin-fu and Ho-shun Regain Their Freedom? Write Letters and Get Lunar New Year Couplets for the New Year

The arrival of the new year means that the number of years Ch'en Ho-shun and Wang Hsin-fu have spent behind bars will increase by another year. Sometimes it feels so long that it is hard to keep track of how many years the two have been imprisoned. While numbers may seem abstract to others, they are concretely embodied in the individuals awaiting rescue. This year marks the 37th year for 65-year-old Ch'en Ho-shun in the Taipei Detention Center, and the 19th year for 73-year-old Wang Hsin-fu in the Tainan Detention Center. Ch'en Ho-shun was accused in 1988 of involvement in the dismemberment of K'o Hung Yu-lan and the kidnapping of Lu Cheng. At the time, he was only twenty-eight. The entire case relied solely on confessions extracted through torture and voiceprint identifications whose authenticity could not be verified. Despite such flimsy evidence, an irrevocable death sentence was sealed—on July 28, 2011, Ch'en Ho-shun's death sentence was finalized. His volunteer legal team and civil society organizations have exhausted all extraordinary legal remedies, including retrials, extraordinary appeals, and petitions for constitutional interpretation, yet they remain shut out by the judiciary to this day.

Wang Hsin-fu was wrongfully embroiled in a karaoke police-shooting case in 1990. Distrustful of the judiciary at the time and fearing he would be framed, he took the risk of leaving Taiwan. He returned to Taiwan in 2006, where he was arrested, and his death sentence was finalized on July 27, 2011. His volunteer legal team and civil society organizations have exhausted all judicial avenues and public advocacy efforts in hopes of increasing the chances of this case being seen and rescued. The Control Yuan also released an investigation report last year (2024) concluding that there is an overwhelming probability that this case is a miscarriage of justice, and called upon the Ministry of Justice to deliberate on filing an extraordinary appeal and a retrial. It is now 2025—when on earth can the two of them finally come home to celebrate the Lunar New Year? We invite everyone to pay attention to both cases. Ahead of the New Year, let us write letters to support them and pick up a pair of Hsin-fu and Ho-shun's Lunar New Year couplets to paste at home. Let more people know that behind the auspicious greeting of "Hsin-fu and Ho-shun" (meaning prosperity, fortune, and peace), there are two lives still awaiting rescue.

The Hsin-fu and Ho-shun Lunar New Year couplets were specially inscribed with blessings by wrongful conviction exoneratee Su Chien-ho.

"Although the judiciary continues to progress today, miscarriages of justice also persist. Because of my own experiences, I understand that wrongful convictions require the public to face them actively. Another new year is approaching, and I hope everyone can enjoy prosperity and peace, that wrongful convictions truly become a thing of the past, and that we can all work together to bring Hsin-fu and Ho-shun home." ——Su Chien-ho (2024).

Letter-Writing Action

Information on Obtaining Lunar New Year Couplets Across Regions

1. Quantities are limited, while supplies last

2. Collection times are subject to the operating hours of each location and store

• Taipei｜Taipei Office, Judicial Reform Foundation
  Address: 4F, No. 290, Minsheng W. Rd., Datong Dist., Taipei City 103008
  ✦ 1/23 (Thu.) 2:00 PM Pop-up Distribution at Dadaocheng

• Taichung｜Taichung Office, Judicial Reform Foundation
  Address: 10F-2, No. 4-33, Sec. 1, Shuangshi Rd., East Dist., Taichung City

• Miaoli｜Moshi Life Studio
  Address: No. 7, Nantian St., Zhunan鎮, Miaoli County

• Tainan｜Southern Office, Amnesty International Taiwan
  Address: No. 243, Dongfeng Rd., North Dist., Tainan City

• Chiayi｜Shun Feng Cafe
  Address: No. 132, Xinmin Rd., Xingang Township, Chiayi County

• Chiayi｜Dao Hu Bookstore
  Address: No. 86, Beixing St., West Dist., Chiayi City

• Kaohsiung｜Southern Office, Taiwan Association for Human Rights
  Address: 10F-4, No. 157, Yixin 2nd Rd., Qianzhen Dist., Kaohsiung City

• Hualien｜Chen-Li Law Firm
  Address: 1F, No. 18-6, Mingli Rd., Hualien City, Hualien County

Event Contact

Contact Person: Mido, Advocacy Specialist, Judicial Reform Foundation
Email: mido@jrf.org.tw