Taiwan’s Constitutional Court is set to announce its decision on a landmark case brought by death row inmates that touches on a controversial question in the country: Should Taiwan abolish the death penalty?
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00:00Taiwan's Constitutional Court is set to announce its decision on whether to abolish the death penalty.
00:06This case was brought by Taiwan's death row inmates who argue that capital punishment contravenes Taiwan's constitution.
00:12But the Justice Ministry says the death penalty has strong public support and that it should not be up to a court to decide.
00:19Now, Louise Wan is outside the Constitutional Court where the verdict will be announced shortly.
00:24Louise, first, can you tell us about this case?
00:30Well, Eric, activists who've been campaigning against the death penalty for years say this is the biggest chance in a decade to abolish it.
00:39Now, this hearing was brought by 37 death row inmates.
00:45And they argued in court here in April through their lawyers and together with NGOs who were supporting them
00:54that the death penalty is unconstitutional because it goes against the right to life and the right to human dignity that are enshrined in Taiwan's constitution.
01:05On the other side of the case, though, was the Ministry of Justice.
01:10And lawyers for them argued that there's overwhelming public support for the death penalty here in Taiwan.
01:16In fact, surveys consistently say that about 80% of Taiwanese are against abolishing it.
01:23And they also argued that it's a part of East Asian culture and that Japan and South Korea have also, in past judgments, said that the death penalty is constitutional.
01:35And now, today, 12 justices will be giving their judgment.
01:41There are 15 justices that sit here, but three have recused themselves because they've been involved in death penalty cases in the past.
01:49They just have to give a majority verdict.
01:52They've been reviewing their judgments for five months.
01:56That's the longest time that's been available to them.
02:00Louise, how are we expecting them to rule today?
02:03Is it likely that we're actually going to see the death penalty overturned?
02:09Well, people on both sides of the case have been telling me that they think the justices would not have taken on this case if they were content with the status quo.
02:20So what they're expecting is they say the least likely outcome will be that the judges rule that it's fully constitutional.
02:28Instead, what they're expecting is that they could say it's partially constitutional.
02:34What that means is they could say the death penalty is still okay for cases of murder, but not okay for all the other long list of offenses that are currently still on the books, including drug dealing and kidnapping.
02:49Now, this court's past rulings have led to significant change in Taiwanese society.
02:56For example, in 2017, it ruled in favor of same-sex marriage.
03:01And it's rulings like that that have led Taiwan to be seen as the most progressive country in Asia.
03:09Now, activists say the fact that it still has the death penalty on its books is a stain on that reputation.
03:15What the justices say, we'll hear from them in a little under an hour from now.