A minor scuffle between police and journalists trying to cover the release of a high-profile corruption suspect on Monday has turned into a legal showdown between the government and a TV cameraman detained by police at the scene.
During the incident on Monday afternoon, a number of court police attempted without much success to fend off members of the press at the Taipei District Court, as the reporters chased the president's son-in-law, Chao Chien-ming, (
As the press and police officers pushed one another in the chaos, Sanlih Entertainment Television employee Chu Wen-cheng (朱文正) was grabbed by several police officers and forcefully hauled into the court building, where he was taken into custody.
PHOTO: WANG MIN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
The court police then brought Chu to the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office and accused him of interfering with a public function (妨害公務罪).
The court police said they arrested Chu because he hit them and kicked a court police officer during the fray.
Prosecutors released Chu without bail late on Monday night .
Chu, who suffered minor injuries, told the press as he left the prosecutors' office that he neither swung at court police nor assaulted them.
"They got the wrong person," Chu said, adding that several cameramen had recorded the incident from different angles and could prove his innocence.
Widespread footage of the incident shown on several TV stations showed no evidence that Chu had attacked police officers.
Yesterday afternoon, Chu filed a lawsuit against the Taipei District Court police for offenses against personal liberty, causing bodily harm and malfeasance in office. He asked for NT$1 million (US$30,470) in compensation.
Chu claimed that court police beat him while he was in custody.
Meanwhile, the Judicial Yuan yesterday said it would "reflect" on the clash.
"The Judicial Yuan regrets the incident, and it will reflect on whether the court police overreacted ... But now that prosecutors have started probing the matter, any conclusions had better be made after the completion of the investigation," Judicial Yuan Secretary-General Fan Kuang-chun (
Fan said chaos often occurs at courts nationwide when the press chases important figures as they attend hearings.
"Regulations on press practices inside and outside the courts should be created to prevent this kind of chaos from repeatedly happening," he added.
The Taipei District Court yesterday afternoon also issued a press statement offering an apology for the incident.
Government Information Office Minister and Cabinet Spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) yesterday said that guaranteeing reporters' safety should be the most important thing during media events.
"Things like this could be avoided if the Taipei District Court prepared and arranged proper working areas for reporters during an event," Cheng said.
"No matter what, reporters' safety should be the priority at all times," Cheng said.
Cheng said that there might have been some misunderstandings in this case.
However, any violence should be investigated and people who attack others should not be forgiven, Cheng said.
Additional reporting by Jimmy Chuang
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS