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Communist Vietnam's secret death penalty conveyor belt: How country trails only China and Iran for 'astonishing' number of executions

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Prisoners are dragged from their cells at 4am without warning to be given a lethal injection Vietnam's use of the death penalty has been thrust into the spotlight after a real estate tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to be executed in one of the biggest corruption cases in the country's history. Truong My Lan, a businesswoman who chaired a sprawling company that developed luxury apartments, hotels, offices and shopping malls, was arrested in 2022.

Taiwan man who beheaded little girl escapes death penalty, sentenced to life in prison

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Wang Ching-yu
Wang Ching-yu
A man who beheaded a 4-year-old girl on the street in a gruesome knife attack in Taipei last year escaped the death penalty on Friday, being sentenced by a district court to life in prison.

While prosecutors at the Shilin District Prosecutors Office had sought the death penalty for 34-year-old Wang Ching-yu, the judges ruled that since Wang had been found to be suffering from schizophrenia, he could not be executed, citing international human rights conventions. 

However, the man's insanity defense did not save him from life imprisonment with the court determining that he he had been "cognitively normal" at the time of the attack. The decision can still be appealed.

Last year in court, Wang had said that he had believed himself to be a Chinese emperor from Sichuan and thought that by killing the little girl he would be granted concubines to carry on his ancestral line. 
During his trial, he got down on his knees to ask forgiveness from the victim's mother.

The horrific attack occurred last March on a Monday morning in Taipei's Neihu District. 

Wang approached the 4-year-old girl nicknamed "Little Light Bulb" from behind with a cleaver while she was riding her mini-scooter in the street just a few feet away from her mother and grandfather. 

Before they could stop him, Wang severed the little girl's head on the street in broad daylight.

Little Light Bulb's killing shocked Taiwan and reignited debate on the island over capital punishment with many calling for Wang's execution. 

At a press conference, the girl's mother, Claire Wang, stepped forward to call on groups not to use her daughter's death to advance their own agendas, arguing that she didn't believe that any kind of regulation like the death penalty could stop these kind of random attacks from occurring. 

Instead, she said that she hoped they could be eliminated through better family and school education.

The mother was not in court to hear the verdict against her daughter's killer. 

Little Light Bulb's family has also not issued a statement about the decision.

Source: Shangaiist, Alex Linder, May 15, 2017

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