Premier Wu Den-yih yesterday defended the execution of 4 prisoners, following condemnation from human rights groups and the European Union.
The Justice Ministry confirmed late Friday that the prisoners had been executed, in the first death sentences to be carried out in Taiwan since late 2005.
The move provoked a strong response from the EU, with the bloc's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton issuing a statement "deploring" the executions.
But at a gathering in Taipei, Wu said: "Not all democratic countries have abolished death penalty."
He cited the United States and Japan as examples. Taiwan has been working towards the goal of abolishing death penalty, he said, but "now is not the proper moment as various public surveys have indicated that at least 70 percent of local people still opposed the abolition of death penalty."
Also, he added, the serious crimes the 4 executed convicts committed "are even not tolerated by the gods, the executions meet the expectation of a great majority of our fellow countrymen."
One of the 4 was found guilty of strangling to death an elementary school student after obtaining a ransom for her, while another shot dead 3 men, according to the Justice Ministry.
The 3rd strangled his business partner and a female farmer, while the fourth kidnapped and murdered a teenager, the ministry said.
The executions ordered by recently-appointed Justice Minister Tseng Yung-fu were hailed by Pai Ping-ping, one of the island's best-known entertainers.
Pai became a leading opponent of abolishing capital punishment after her teenage daughter was kidnapped, raped and murdered in a widely publicized case in the 1990s.
Taiwan's human rights groups on Saturday accused the government of "recklessly" carrying out the 4 executions in one night.
The executions happened at a sensitive time, just weeks after the island's justice minister stepped down after causing a political storm by saying she would not allow any convict to be put to death during her term.
Sources: The China Post/Asia News Network, May 3, 2010
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