Tsai Kuan-yu (蔡寬裕), a human rights defender and White Terror political victim, passed away on Sept. 5 at the age of 92. Upon hearing this news, Culture Minister Li Yuan expressed his sincerest condolences, commending Tsai for his dedication to uncovering the history of the White Terror and advocating for transformative justice and human rights in Taiwan.
Tsai was born on Feb. 5, 1933 in Taipei. He graduated from Soochow University’s (東吳大學) Department of Economics. He was arrested twice for his involvement in the Liu Ziran incident (劉自然事件, also known as the May 24 incident) and Taiwan independence movements in the 1960s, spending over a decade in prison.
After the lifting of martial law, Tsai advocated for the rights of political victims and founded an association to unite like-minded individuals, becoming the driving force behind the establishment of the National Human Rights Museum (NHRM), which was officially open in 2018.
Tsai was deeply committed to historical education, serving as an NHRM guide to tell the story of the White Terror and publicize the plight of political victims. Demanding political rehabilitation, he also strove for the passing of the Act on Promoting Transitional Justice (促進轉型正義條例) and the Act to Restore Victims’ Rights Infringed by Illegal Acts of the State During the Period of Authoritarian Rule (威權統治時期國家不法行為被害者權利回復條例).