On October 6, 8 people were executed by gunshots to the head

On October 6, 8 people were executed by gunshots to the head. Taiwan's most notorious criminal, Chen Chin-hsing, was among them. Chen caused a sensation on the island when he kidnapped and killed a celebrity's daughter in April 1997 and evaded a police dragnet for 7 months, only to surrender after taking a South African diplomat and his family hostage for 24 hours. While there was little sympathy for Chen, who received a triple death sentence on kidnap, murder and rape charges, the execution of 7 others on the same night brought a long-simmering debate on the Bandit Law back to the boil. Nineteen university professors of criminal law issued a joint statement saying that the Bandit Law had expired long ago. "Such careless executions by gunshot will create bigger problems tomorrow," it quoted the academics as saying. The harshest criticism came from the English-language Taipei Times, which blasted the executions as "the most contemptible episode in Taiwan's recent judicial history." The Bandit Law represents one instance of a broader problem with the Taiwanese criminal justice system that is in dire need of overall reorganization and modernization. Executing the 8 convicts "frees the Government, in the most cynical way, from a major potential embarrassment; namely, what to do with people convicted under the Bandit Law if the legislature, now researching the matter, confirms the general consensus among legal scholars that the law is not valid," the paper said in an editorial. The Justice Ministry was quoted as saying it has always held that the Bandit Law still had force, citing a confirmation from the Supreme Court that the code had not expired. But it added that "too much emphasis on 'the stability of law' could allow 'vicious laws' to linger, and will do nothing to resolve the debate." Three men convicted under the Bandit Law while juveniles, Su Chien-ho, Liu Ping-lang and Chuang Lin-hsun, remained on death row, awaiting a Supreme Court ruling on their appeal of a conviction for murdering a couple, Wu Ming-han and Yeh Ying-lan, in 1992. The fate of these three remaining convicts sparked an emotional debate about law in Taiwan, involving the courts, legislators and human rights groups. The main concerns are whether the confessions were forced from Su, Liu and Chuang (and, earlier, from Wang Wen-hsiao, the original convict who was executed several months previously) and whether the courts were too hasty in finding them guilty. Legislator Hsieh Chi-ta drafted a bill that would soon be introduced in the Legislative Yuan, which would repeal the Banditry Act. Conservative lawmakers, she feared, would perhaps not concede that the original law was heavy-handed or misused. "It will be extremely hard to admit this kind of major mistake," she said, "but we have to do it." Several laws giving basic legal protection to people under arrest were passed earlier this year. Politicians from both the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) and the opposition appealed to President Lee Teng-hui to show clemency. In addition, the Control Yuan, the top watchdog agency for the Government, reprimanded the Justice Ministry and the police for their handling of the case, and the Prosecutor General's office thrice applied for the convictions to be reviewed. The defendants themselves appealed twice, losing in both the High Court and the Supreme Court. President Lee could sign a pardon before he leaves office in May 2000, but only at the risk of embarrassing the judiciary. The 3 condemned men, meanwhile, have not requested a pardon. That assumes guilt, they say, and they want their innocence recognized.