TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Legislators questioned Tsai Chiu-ming (蔡秋明), the nominee for the president of the Judicial Yuan (司法院), on Wednesday (July 9) regarding his stance on the death penalty. Hsu Yu-chen (許宇甄), a Kuomintang (KMT, 國民黨) legislator, highlighted Tsai's questionnaire response, where he expressed opposition to abolishing capital punishment.
Hsu noted the difficulty of achieving a unanimous death sentence in a three-judge panel under the current constitutional interpretation, likening it to a de facto abolition. He also affirmed his support for the current death penalty system to be constitutional, reiterating his opposition to its abolition.
Further probing from Hsu revealed that Tsai lacks comprehensive statistics on unanimous death penalty verdicts from three-judge panels during her questioning session. Amid debates over the interpretation's implications, Tsai pledged to address related applications according to Article 42 of the Constitutional Court Procedure Act (憲法訴訟法) if appointed.