A lot of friends sent letters to President Chen,expressing their concern over the execution of Mr. Chong Deshu and the abolition of death penalty in Taiwan. This office's reply is as follows:
Dear Friend:
Thank you for your recent letter to President Chen Shui-bian, expressing your concern over the execution of Mr. Chong Deshu and the abolition of death penalty in Taiwan.
President Chen declared soon after his inauguration in 2000 that the government's stance in running the country should be based on human rights, and the gradual abolition of death penalty would be one of the administrative goals. Since then the government has been making efforts in building consensus among its citizens and amending related laws toward this end, regardless of the deep-rooted public support for the theory of retribution. For example, a new act replacing the mandatory death penalty with discretionary death penalty was promulgated in February 2005, which also raises the upper limits of sentences and the parole threshold for life imprisonment.
Because this office is not in a position to handle this matter, we have forwarded a copy of your letter to the Ministry of Justice for their reference. Thank you again for bringing this matter to our attention.