TAIWAN: INMATE CONVICTED IN SIX DEATHS EXECUTED
April 2, 2020: A death row inmate was executed on 1st April 2020 in Taiwan, less than a year after he was convicted of killing six people by setting fire to his home. Minister of Justice Tsai Ching-hsiang said he signed the order, and the death sentence was carried out on 1st April afternoon in New Taipei. The 53-year-old inmate Weng Jen-hsien was sentenced to death by the Supreme Court on 10 July 2019 after he was convicted in the deaths of his parents, their caregiver, his niece and nephew, and the latter's wife. According to the court, Weng set fire to his home in Taoyuan City's Longtan District on 7 February 2016 after a family feud, and the six died in the blaze, while four other relatives sustained injuries. Currently, there are 39 inmates on death row in Taiwan, and the last execution before Weng's was on 31 August 2018. It was Taiwan's second execution of a prisoner since President Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party took office in 2016. Prior to that, in the eight years of the previous administration led by then President Ma Ying-jeou of the Kuomintang, 33 death row inmates were executed. (Sources: CNA, 01/04/2020)
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