The Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld the “not guilty” verdict for the 22 defendants who occupied the Legislative Yuan during a protest in 2014, saying they were exercising their right to political dissent and freedom of speech.
The 22 were first acquitted in March last year and public prosecutors are unlikely to appeal yesterday’s decision in accordance with the Criminal Speedy Trial Act (刑事妥速審判法) of 2010.
The defendants and other protesters stormed the legislature on March 18, 2014, and occupied the legislative chamber for almost 23 days in what became known as the Sunflower movement.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
The defendants included members of different activist groups, such as Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆), Chen Wei-ting (陳為廷), Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), Tsay Ting-kuei (蔡丁貴) and Wei Yang (魏揚). While the Taipei District Court acquitted the group on charges of “civil disobedience,” the High Court based its decision on the protection of freedom of speech and right to dissenting views.
Reading the court’s ruling, High Court spokesman Chiu Chung-yi (邱忠義) said that the defendants acted in response to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chang Ching-chung (張慶忠) and other KMT lawmakers’ rush to pass the cross-strait service trade agreement draft bill through a legislative subcommittee without following proper procedures.
The defendants’ action “did not cause any clear and immediate danger,” Chou said, adding that according to Council of Grand Justices’ Interpretation No. 455, the defendants should be given protection under freedom of speech, for which they should not be oppressed or punished in the aftermath of their undertaken acts.
The High Court determined that the group was “urging other protesters to enter the legislature together as a group to express their discontent and opposition to the cross-strait agreement.”
“They were not maligning and vilifying indiscriminately, nor did they incite the crowd to commit acts of violence against the government,” the ruling said.
“At that time, the draft bill was headed for a vote in the legislature within three days. The defendants decided that occupying the legislature was their only recourse, as they perceived there was insufficient time and no other effective way to block the draft bill,” it said.
“That people can express contrary opinions on public affairs issues demonstrates the freedom of expression that Taiwan’s society has fought to earn through very difficult circumstances,” it said.
“The acquittal proves that the cross-strait agreement had done grave harm to our constitutional democracy. We are not guilty, but the real guilty ones are [then-president] Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and his government, and KMT Legislator Chang Ching-chung, who tried to ram the draft bill through by using illegal and unconstitutional means,” said Huang, now New Power Party executive chairman.
Chen said the ruling serves as a message to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) “that you could be an emperor and extend your rule indefinitely, but Taiwan is a democratic nation.”
“Xi should not infringe on Taiwan’s territory, because Taiwanese will rise and fight, and our democracy and the judiciary will protect the public’s rights,” Chen said.
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS