Taiwan’s Transitional Justice Commission on Saturday exonerated five political prisoners from the charge of overthrowing the government, 51 years after they were executed in 1970 following the Taiyuan Prison Insurrection during the Martial Law era.
The trial of the inmates — Chiang Ping-hsing (???), Cheng Chin-he (???), Chan Tien-tseng (???), Hsieh Tung-jung (???) and Chen Liang (??) — violated the Constitution for breaking the separation of powers and judiciary independence, the commission said.
Yeh Hung-ling (???), acting chairwoman of the commission, said in Saturday’s press conference that the 1970 ruling that sentenced the five to death was made under the influence of then-President Chiang Kai-shek (???).
According to the commission, the five political prisoners, who were held at the Taiyuan Prison in Taitung County, eastern Taiwan, attacked the guards and escaped from prison in an attempt to announce the independence of Taiwan on Feb. 8, 1970.
They were then caught separately within a 12 day period, with Chiang Kai-shek intervening in the case and giving an order that the five inmates should all be executed.
Chiang Ping-hsing’s younger sister, Chiang Yueh-wei (???), broke down in tears when she made a speech at the news conference.
Her son said his uncle was once a taboo for the family, and he did not realize his uncle’s efforts until reading his death note.
“My uncle’s contribution was beyond imagination at a time when we can breathe the air of freedom,” he said.
Tsai Kuan-yu (???), a former political prisoner who also attended the news conference, thanked the commission and said the exonerations, while long overdue, marked a return of justice to Taiwanese society.
Responding to the exonerations, Control Yuan member Wang Mei-yu (???), who has been following the case, said she felt gratified to learn about the results.
Wang said she and her colleagues have proposed to the National Human Rights Commission to establish a unit to look further into the White Terror cases that were investigated by the Control Yuan and do a follow up investigation.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel