2010年12月14日 星期二

國際特赦組織聲明稿 - 台灣:蘇案正義遲遲未到

台灣|蘇案正義遲遲未到
-國際特赦組織公開聲明-
AI Index: ASA 38/005/2010 
2010年12月10日

 
針對台灣最高法院刻正審理檢方就蘇建和、劉秉郎、莊林勳等三人(簡稱「蘇案」)無罪上訴一案,國際特赦組織敦促台灣當局正視此案司法程序中的各項瑕疵,包括刑求問題,並以廢除死刑為目標,立即暫停執行死刑。

國際特赦組織非常關切這宗延宕多時的死刑案件。蘇案歷經台灣各級法院反覆審訊已近二十年,而其基礎主要是三位被告疑遭強迫的「自白」。
國際特赦組織敦促台灣最高法院,針對被告申辯遭警方刑求取供進行調查。2007年6月,台灣高等法院重審本案時,並未就刑求問題深入查究。但2003年修正的台灣刑事訴訟法明文規定,自白不能作為有罪判決之唯一證據,更禁止法院採納刑求取得的證據。事實上,最高法院在撤銷先前死刑判決時即曾指出,本案證據與事實不符,而高等法院對此疏於查證。
2010年11月12日,高等法院再度判決劉秉郎、蘇建和、莊林勳等三人強盜殺人罪不成立。此次判決採納了刑事鑑定專家證人李昌鈺的意見。李昌鈺在2009年7月發表的刑事鑑定報告中,質疑本案物證顯然不足以證明被告有罪。


國際特赦組織同時敦促台灣政府立即採取具體措施,實踐其早已宣示的廢除死刑目標。國際特赦組織反對在任何案件中使用死刑這種極度殘忍且不人道的刑罰,並且請求台灣當局對所有死刑犯均予減刑。廢除死刑的世界潮流是不容置疑的。迄今已有超過三分之二的國家在法律上或實務上廢除死刑。在2009年,雖然還有58個國家保留死刑,但大多數國家並未加以實施。

1991年3月23日深夜至24日凌晨之間,葉盈蘭與吳銘漢夫婦於汐止家中被砍殺致死。五個月後,即1991年8月13日,警方根據命案現場遺留的一枚指紋找到海軍陸戰隊士兵王文孝。王文孝在當天被捕,隨即向警方坦承犯案。被捕逾36小時後,王文孝補充新的供辭,提到他的弟弟王文忠,以及王文忠的三名同學,但他無法講出這三人的名字。

王文忠隨即遭到逮捕,但警方沒有申請拘票,且疑似加以刑求。王文忠供出三名同學的名字,即劉秉郎、蘇建和及莊林勳。王文忠因被控為本案共犯而服刑兩年。出獄後,他推翻供辭,公開指控警察強迫他供出他的同學。王文孝則於1992年1月11日因本案被槍決。

過去二十年,三名被告經歷了13次審判、再審以及三次非常上訴。1992年2月,地方法院首次將他們判處死刑,高等法院維持原判,但最高法院以物證不足、不明確或自相矛盾而將死刑判決撤銷、發回更審。高等法院在更審時再度判處三人死刑,但又被最高法院撤銷發回。1994年10月,高等法院第三次判處三人死刑,最高法院於1995年2月裁定死刑定讞。

此後,三位被告聲請再審,指稱判決主要依據的「自白」是經過刑求取得,而各審法院未予詳查。高等法院於2000年開始再審,並就本案物證重新審酌。2008年,高等法院同意囑託刑事鑑定專家李昌鈺進行犯罪現場重建。李昌鈺博士於2009年發表報告,指出本案極可能僅係一人所為。

蘇案三位被告曾詳述其所稱遭到刑求的情節。劉秉郎說:「(警察)用鐵錘隔著電話簿錘打我的胸部」,「還把我倒吊起來,往我嘴裡灌水和尿。」劉秉郎、蘇建和、莊林勳都提到被毆打、灌水或灌尿。蘇建和和莊林勳說警察曾電擊他們的下體。蘇建和則說,警察在電擊之後,還用綠油精刺激他下體被燒灼的傷口。 

 

【台灣新聞聯絡人】
  • 國際特赦組織台灣分會副秘書長 楊宗澧 +886-(0)2-2709-4162
 


Taiwan: justice delayed 
in “Hsichih Trio” case
-AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL 
PUBLIC STATEMENT -
AI Index: ASA 38/005/2010 
10 December 2010

While the Supreme Court considers an appeal against the “not guilty verdict” in the cases of Liu Bing-lang, Su Chien-ho and Chuang Lin-hsun, collectively known as the “Hsichih Trio”, Amnesty International urges the Taiwanese authorities to promptly address flaws in this judicial proceeding, including allegations of torture and immediately establish a moratorium on the use of the death penalty as a first step towards its abolition.

Amnesty International is deeply concerned with the prolonged death penalty trials of the “Hsichih Trio.” The defendants have been repeatedly tried at different levels of the Taiwanese court system for nearly two decades based primarily on the evidence of their alleged forced “confessions”.

Amnesty International urges the Supreme Court to investigate the defendants’ allegations that police tortured them to extract confessions, which were not thoroughly examined prior to the sentencing of the men by the Taiwanese High Court during the 11th retrial in June 2007. Taiwan’s own Criminal Procedure Law, revised in 2003, clearly states that confessions cannot serve as the sole basis of evidence of guilt and prohibits the use of evidence extracted through torture in courts. In fact, the Supreme Court had overruled an earlier sentence of death citing that the evidence presented was contradictory to the facts, and the High Court failed to carry out a thorough investigation.

On the 13th retrial held on 12 November 2010, the High Court ruled that Liu Bing-lang, Su Chien-ho and Chuang Lin-hsun were not guilty of the robbery and murder of a couple. In reaching the conclusion, the High Court adopted the opinions of forensic expert witness Henry Lee, who published a forensic examination report in July 2009 that questioned the physical evidence, which was apparently insufficient to prove that the defendants were guilty.

Amnesty International also urges the Taiwan government to immediately take concrete steps to fulfill its long stated goal of abolition of the death penalty. Amnesty International opposes the use of the death penalty in all cases as the ultimate cruel and inhuman punishment, and asks the Taiwanese authorities to commute all death sentences. The worldwide trend toward the abolition of the death penalty is unmistakable. As of today, more than two-thirds of the countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice. Although 58 countries retained the death penalty in 2009, most did not use it.

On the night of 23-24 March 1991, Yeh In-lan and her husband, Wu Ming-han, were stabbed to death at their home in the town of Hsichih. Five months later, on 13 August 1991, police traced a fingerprint left at the scene of the crime to a marine named Wang Wen-hsiao. Wang Wen-hsiao was taken into custody on 13 August 1991, and confessed to the police immediately. More than 36 hours after he had been taken into custody, Wang Wen-hsiao added new information to his confession, implicating his brother, Wang Wen-chung, and three of his brother’s classmates, whom he could not name.

Wang Wen-chung was detained soon after, by police without an arrest warrant, and was allegedly tortured. He named his three classmates as Liu Bing-lang, Su Chien-ho and Chuang Lin-hsun. Wang Wen-chung served two years in prison for his alleged role as an accomplice in the crime. After his release, he retracted his evidence and stated publicly that the police had forced him to implicate his classmates. Wang Wen-hsiao was executed for his part in the murders on 11 January 1992.

The three defendants have gone through 13 trials and retrials and three extraordinary appeals in the past 20 years. The first death sentence was handed down by the District Court in February 1992 and the High Court upheld it. However, the Supreme Court later ruled that the case needed to be retried because physical evidence used by the High Court was insufficient, unclear or contradictory. The High Court sentenced the three men to death once again during the second trial, but the death sentences were again rejected by the Supreme Court and the case returned for retrial. In October 1994 the High Court imposed death sentences against the “Hsichih Trio” for the third time, which were upheld by the Supreme Court in February 1995.

The defendants, however, lodged appeals against the death sentences as they had been primarily based on their alleged forced “confessions” without further investigations by the courts. High Court judges began to consider physical evidence in the retrials held after 2000. In 2008, the High Court asked a forensic expert, Henry Lee, to do a crime scene reconstruction. Dr. Lee's report, released in 2009, suggested that no more than one person could have committed the murders.

The “Hsichih Trio” have described their alleged torture in great detail. "(Police) put a thick yellow book against my chest and hammered me on the chest," Liu Bing-Lan has said, "and they then hung me upside down and started pouring water and urine into my mouth." Liu Bing-lan, Su Chien-ho and Chuang Lin-hsun all describe being beaten and having water or urine forced into their mouths. Su Chien-ho and Chuan Lin-hsun also claim to have been subjected to electric shocks to their genitals, and in Su Chien-ho's case police allegedly smeared a concentrated chemical on the wounds on his genitals caused by the electric shocks.

ENDS/ 
Public Document


International Secretariat, Amnesty International, 1 Easton St., London WC1X 0DW, UKwww.amnesty.org

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