Prosecutors yesterday filed charges against 119 people — including leading figures Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆), Chen Wei-ting (陳為廷), Dennis Wei (魏揚) and Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) — for their roles in the student-led Sunflower movement that occupied the main legislative chamber last year and subsequent rallies opposing what the protesters called the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government’s opaque handling of a trade-in-services pact with China.
Lin, Chen and Huang were among 22 indicted for breaking into the Legislative Yuan on March 18 last year, which led to an occupation lasting almost 23 days by hundreds of protesters. Wei, who led another group of protesters in an offshoot siege of the Executive Yuan across the road on March 23 last year, was one of 93 people indicted over that incident. Charges were also brought against Hung Chung-yen (洪崇晏) and two others, who on April 11 last year took to the Web to mobilize a large crowd to surround the Zhongzheng First Police Precinct near the legislature, the precinct responsible for maintaining order during the protests.
At least two foreigners were also among the 119 indicted — US political activist and long-term resident Lynn Miles, who is also known by his Chinese name Mei Hsin-yi (梅心怡), and Canadian photojournalist David Smith.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
According to the indictment, the charges against the 119 included instigating others to commit a crime, trespassing, illegal entry into a building, obstructing an officer from discharge of duties, insulting a public official or office and violating the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法).
In response to the indictment, Huang wrote a Facebook post yesterday, rejecting the grounds on which many students were indicted.
“I did not incite any criminal activities, and I ask the public to bravely resist the Ma administration’s abuse of authority and stand up to save Taiwan’s democracy, which is on the verge of falling off a cliff,” he said.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Chen said the government had perverted the judicial system, adding: “There are 119 people being charged, but what about the police officers who used violence against civilians and [then-premier] Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺), who ordered the crackdown against protesters? None of them have been charged. The judiciary is biased. It only persecutes civilians and does not go after government officials.”
“We were fighting against the signing of the service trade agreement with China. It was a civil resistance action against the government; the people who participated are not guilty of any crime,” Wei said.
Wei’s mother, Yang Tsui (楊翠), a prominent Taiwanese literature academic, said she suspected the prosecutors’ move was made under duress.
Yang backed Wei and his fellow activists, saying: “Civil disobedience is necessary and legitimate, and what the students admitted doing were not wrongdoings, but necessary actions.”
The indictments come as no surprise to those familiar with the KMT’s political maneuvers, she said, adding that the indicted students would not evade their legal responsibility and that she was thankful for lawyers who volunteered to help.
“There would have been no protests if politics was clean. The students stood up to the government precisely because it is not,” she said.
Student activist Lai Pin-yu (賴品妤), a member of the Black Island National Youth Front, said that participants in the occupation of the legislature’s main chamber knew from the start that they would be required to take legal responsibility for their actions.
However, she also asked if police officers who cleared the protesters should face charges for their actions, and accused President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration of being lenient on police brutality.
Meanwhile, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) spokesperson Cheng Yun-peng (鄭運鵬) acknowledged the protesters’ actions, which he said were carried out in the name of the nation’s democracy and should not be considered criminal.
The DPP called for the judiciary to regard the incident from a historical perspective and refrain from damaging democracy.
Executive Yuan spokesperson Sun Lih-chyun (孫立群) said the Executive Yuan hoped that those charged would be treated with “a tolerant attitude,” but said the charges should not be dropped.
Additional reporting by Hua Meng-ching, Chen Hui-ping, Lii Wen, Alison Hsiao and CNA
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS