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Among the too many killings committed in the lawless year of 1997 was the execution of 21-year-old Chiang Kuo-ching (江國慶), a soldier convicted of a horrific crime after a forced confession. Chiang went to his death maintaining his innocence, and 14 years later in 2011, he was posthumously cleared of all wrongdoing. John and Eryk tell this harrowing story, disagree on capital punishment, and discuss the death penalty in Taiwan. They end with a case John brings up of a serial killer from the 1970s-80s who certainly "deserved" his fate.
Cover: One of the saddest pictures you will ever see: an innocent 21-year-old man being led to his execution. This image was printed -- and later put online -- by most newspapers in Taiwan.
Note: Unless otherwise indicated, photos below are from a Facebook page dedicated to (江國慶) Chiang Kuo-ching's memory.
1. A final note by Chiang maintaining his innocence and naming those he said framed him for the disgusting rape and murder of a very young girl.
2. Chiang's mother Wang Tsai-lien (王彩蓮) reads the official verdict of his innocence at an alter dedicated to her son.
3. Chiang's mother and supporters protest the officials in charge of the 1997 murder case.
TAIWAN IN TIME article on the execution of Chiang Kuo-ching.
4. Then-President Ma Ying-jeou apologizes for the mistaken execution after a court in 2011 found he was not involved in the crime. From Yahoo News: Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou on Tuesday hugged the mother of Chiang Kuo-ching, and also bowed to a portrait of the soldier. “I know you and your family have been suffering for this for more than 10 years,“ Ma, whose first language is Mandarin, said in heavily accented Taiwanese. ”The government has acted wrongly in this case. As the head of state, I'm obliged to apologise to you on behalf of the government.“
The remaining family or wrongfully executed soldier Chiang Kuo-ching was paid roughly US$3.4 million in compensation. The executed young man's father Chiang Chih-an 江支安 (shown below) worked tirelessly to prove his son did not commit the revolting crime, but did not live to see his son formally acquitted. (Via TVBS)
Check our very first episode, the story of a very white man who showed up in London in 1703... and claimed to be from Formosa. Or try a foodie episode from Season 3. Or, for those who want some harder-core history, hear the tale of the Lockheed U-2 pilot Wang Hsi-chueh 王錫爵, who became was famous for defecting to the PRC by hijacking China Airlines Flight 334 on May 3, 1986.
