Capital Punishment in The Republic of China - Temporary Moratorium Between 2006 and 2009

Temporary Moratorium Between 2006 and 2009

These controversial cases apparently influenced the local judicial system. Chen Ding-nan publicly announced his intention to abolish the death penalty in May 2001 and his views were further backed by President Chen Shui-bian. Although the right to abolish death penalty is held on the Legislative Yuan which is dominated by the opposing Pan-blue coalition, as well as being more conservative on this issue, the Democratic Progressive Party government informally gave a moratorium by not signing death warrants except for serious and noncontroversial significant cases. As a result, the number of executions have dropped significantly since 2002. In an October 2006 interview, Chen Ding-nan's successor Shih Mao-lin (施茂林) said he would not sign any death warrant for the 19 defendants who were already condemned to death by Supreme Court in near future, because their cases were still being reviewed inside the Ministry. These conditions remained in effect until Chen Shui-bian's tenure expired on May 20, 2008.

In May 2008, Chen Shui-bian's successor Ma Ying-jeou nominated Wang Ching-feng as the Minister of Justice. Wang also held an anti-capital punishment standpoint and delayed every death case delivered to the Minister's Office. Until March 2010, a total of 44 Supreme Court's condemned prisoners were detained by the Ministry but Wang still publicly announced her strong attitude towards anti-capital punishment during media interview. This caused controversy and the consensus suddenly broke out after entertainer Pai Ping-ping (whose daughter Pai Hsiao-yen was kidnapped and murdered in 1997) held strong protest against Wang. Wang, who originally refused to step down, resigned out of social pressure on March 11, 2010. Wang's successor Tseng Yung-Fu(曾勇夫) promised to premier Wu Den-yih that he would resume executions.