Taiwanese death-row inmate Hwang Lin-kai (黃麟凱) was executed by firing squad on 2025년 1월 16일.
The issue in the lawsuit was whether a case arguing that approval of the execution should be deemed unlawful was a matter for the administrative courts.
On 24일, the Supreme Administrative Court dismissed the appeal, finalizing the case.
3-line summary
1. The lawsuit over approval of Hwang Lin-kai’s execution has been finalized.
2. The Supreme Administrative Court dismissed the appeal on 24일.
3. Criminal-court procedures are the standard for disputes over executions.
Lawsuit by Taiwan’s Alliance to End the Death Penalty Challenging the Approval Itself
The Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty argued that the Ministry of Justice’s decision approving Hwang Lin-kai’s execution constituted an administrative disposition. Its stated reason was that the execution took place within 3 days of the approval and produced the direct legal effect of depriving the prisoner of life.
The alliance filed an administrative lawsuit seeking confirmation that the official approval document was unlawful, arguing that the Ministry of Justice had approved the execution even though an application for an interim measure before the Constitutional Court and criminal retrial proceedings were then underway. This was the alliance’s claim; it was not the result of a court ruling on whether the approval itself was unlawful.
Hwang Lin-kai was tried on suspicion of murdering his former girlfriend and her mother in Sanchong, New Taipei City, in 2013. Taiwan’s Supreme Court finalized the death sentence in 2017, and the sentence was carried out on 2025년 1월 16일.
Court Viewed Execution of the Death Sentence as a Criminal-Trial Enforcement Procedure
At the end of May this year, the Taipei High Administrative Court ruled that investigation, prosecution, trial, and execution all fell within criminal-justice procedures. The court explained that after receiving a report on the death-penalty case from the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, the Ministry of Justice’s consideration of grounds for suspension of execution, retrial, and extraordinary appeal, and its decision on whether to approve the execution, also constituted a criminal-trial enforcement procedure.
The key point in this ruling was that even when a dispute arises during the execution process, it cannot immediately be brought as an administrative lawsuit. The court held that, if judicial relief was necessary, a criminal court should review the matter under the Code of Criminal Procedure or through its analogous application. It ruled that the administrative courts had no jurisdiction because this was not a public-law dispute arising from correctional administration.
Procedural Ruling Concluded with the Supreme Administrative Court’s Dismissal
The Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty appealed the first-instance decision, but the Supreme Administrative Court dismissed the appeal on 24일. As a result, the case seeking confirmation from the administrative court that the execution-approval document was unlawful has been finalized.
This decision did not newly rule on whether to retain or abolish the death penalty, nor did it determine the legality of the contents of the execution approval. Rather, it clarified which court procedure should handle the dispute. The central point of this case is that even when the issue concerns the same execution, the procedure for seeking relief may differ depending on whether it is classified as an administrative disposition or as the enforcement of a criminal trial.
References
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