Taipei, Oct. 19 (CNA) Taiwan should follow the global trend and abolish the death penalty, human rights advocates said at a film festival screening death penalty-related movies from various countries.
"The government always said death penalties were imposed in the name of the people, which means each and every one of us played a role in the execution of death row inmates. But did we really authorize the government to do that for us? " said Kao Yong-cheng, a lawyer who represented Human Rights Protection Committee of the Taipei Bar Association on the sidelines of the second "Murder by Numbers" film festival.
The festival, which was organized by Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty (TAEDP) , screened nine documentary films from Italy, France, Sweden, Denmark, India and the U.S., which all focused on the issue of death penalty.
There is a global trend to abolish the death penalty, said Italian director Mario Marazziti, whose film "Thou Shall Not Kill" is being screened. He noted that the death penalty has been abolished in more than 90 countries, and that there are 43 countries where there has not been a single execution in the past 10 years.
One of the films, "Un Abolistionniste: Robert Badinter, " documents the life story of Badinter, a high-profile French criminal lawyer, university professor and politician known for his struggle against the death penalty. The death penalty was abolished when Badinter served as Minister of Justice in 1981.
It took France almost 200 years to abolish the death penalty, showing that how difficult it is to tackle the issue, said Jean-Claude Poimbeouf, director of French Institute in Taiwan.
The penalty has always been a political issue, which is why it will take political measures to deal with the issue, Poimbeouf said, adding that most Taiwanese political leaders have a background in the practice of law and that they should reconsider abolishing the ultimate punishment given their expertise in both politics and law.
Most people think that crime rates will increase once the penalty is abolished, but this idea is false, said Go Yu-ling, Secretary-General of Taiwan International Workers' Association. In fact, surveys in various countries showed that crime rates did not rise after the abolition of the death penalty.
The festival, which was previously held in 2004, has been relatively successful, having doubled its viewership, said TAEDP executive director Lin Hsin-yi. The films are being shown in Kaohsiung this week after having been first shown in Taipei last week.