A new legislative investigation into police abuses during the 2014 Sunflower movement should be launched, civil activists said yesterday, also calling for the passage of legislation expanding the legislature’s investigative powers.
Activists from groups including Taiwan Association for Human Rights and Judicial Reform Foundation gathered outside the Legislative Yuan to call for the re-opening of the investigation into alleged police violence used to remove activists who stormed the Executive Yuan during the Sunflower movement, said to have led to more than 100 injuries.
“Normally, the police always find criminals who injure or murder someone, but we still have no idea who struck blows that day,” said former Taiwan Solidarity Union legislator Chou Ni-an (周倪安), who was hospitalized following the incident as a result of injuries she allegedly receive while intervening to protect protesters.
She accused the police of a cover-up, saying they had failed to give a full account of what happened.
“No central government official has so far been investigated as a result of that incident, much less been made to take political responsibility. The police have even failed to find out which police officers used violence on the protestors,” Sunflower leader Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) said, adding that finding out the truth is necessary to prevent similar incidents.
However, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wellington Koo (顧立雄), who served as one of conveners of the group of pro bono lawyers who assisted activists during the Sunflower movement, said that legislation awarding the Legislative Yuan with new investigative powers would be necessary for any new investigation to prove fruitful.
“Regardless of whether or not we should establish a special truth committee, what is important is the investigative powers of the legislature,” he said. “Without complete powers, any new committee would be fruitless.”
Kao Yung-cheng (高涌誠), who also served as convener of the pro bono lawyers group, concurred, stating that a previous Legislative Yuan “working group” on which he served as an outside expert had failed to find answers due to the refusal of the Executive Yuan to provide full documentation.
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