In 1997 a Taiwanese soldier was executed for murder, despite there being no evidence against him.The authorities last year admitted he was innocent and compensated his family, but legal experts warn a similar tragedy could happen again under the current judicial system.
Chiang Kuo-ching was convicted of raping and killing a five-year-old girl. He was one of two soldiers who worked in the same building as the girl's mother, and had failed a lie detector test because he was scared.
He insisted he was innocent, but was executed at the age of 21.
After a long campaign by his parents, investigators reopened the case in 2010 and indicted a man with a history of sexual offences last year.
The government admitted Mr Chiang was tortured into confessing and late last year apologised to his family.
Despite this alarming case, Taiwan's judges continue to sentence defendants to death with no material evidence, such as fingerprints or DNA, experts say.
With a public that generally does not question court sentences, there are worries that more wrongful executions could happen, especially since Taiwan has ended a four-year moratorium.
From 2006 to 2009, no executions were carried out, as the government tried to bring Taiwan closer to the international trend of abolishing the death penalty.
But the moratorium ended in 2010 after former Justice Minister Wang Ching-feng inadvertently drew attention to it, by publicly stating that she would not sign off on any executions.
Facing public pressure, President Ma Ying-jeou replaced Ms Wang with Tseng Yung-fu, who promptly ordered four people be executed, and another five last year.
Taiwan's judges - most of whom favour the death penalty - meanwhile sentenced 15 people to death at the Supreme Court level last year, the highest number in the past decade.
There are 57 inmates currently on death row. At least one of them, and four others sentenced to death but still undergoing appeals, were convicted with no material evidence.
Source: BBC News, June 4, 2012
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