Tama Talum was not guilty of using a rifle to kill protected species without permission, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday, reversing its previous ruling.
The court previously upheld a ruling by the Taitung District Court, which sentenced Tama Talum, a Bunun, to three years and six months in jail for contravening the Controlling Guns, Ammunition and Knives Act (槍砲彈藥刀械管制條例) and the Wildlife Conservation Act (野生動物保育法).
Tama Talum, who was at his home in Taitung when yesterday’s verdict was issued, said that he was happy that the case is finally over after 11 years.
Photo: Wu Cheng-feng, Taipei Times
Aside from thanking supporters of indigenous peoples’ hunting rights, as well as lawyers and government officials who helped him resolve the case, he went into his room and looked at a picture of his mother, who died of COVID-19 in 2022 at the age of 100, telling her that he is “no longer guilty.”
Attorney Lo Hui-shin (羅惠馨), who represented Tama Talum, said that the Supreme Court’s decision was a landmark.
“Hunters of indigenous tribes no longer need to worry when they go hunting, but lawmakers and government agencies still need to fix the regulations governing hunting,” Lo said. “They cannot always seek remedies through the judicial system, which should be the last resort.”
Tama Talum was charged after using a rifle to kill a Taiwan serow, a protected species, and a Reeves’s muntjac in 2013.
He appealed the Taitung District Court’s ruling to the Taiwan High Court and the Supreme Court, which both initially rejected his appeals.
In 2015, then-prosecutor general Yen Ta-ho (顏大和) filed a special appeal on his behalf to the Supreme Court, which in 2017 asked the Constitutional Court to weigh in on the case.
The Constitutional Court in 2021 ruled that the district court’s verdict was partly unconstitutional, resulting in the case being referred to the Supreme Court.
On May 20, 2021, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) pardoned Tama Talum, which kept him from serving prison time.
Despite the pardon, the Supreme Court in 2021 rejected the special appeal filed in 2015.
While the Constitutional Court ruled unconstitutional a portion of the verdict, that did not have any bearing on the part to do with contraventions of the Controlling Guns, Ammunition and Knives Act, the Supreme Court said.
The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office in 2022 launched a second special appeal.
The Supreme Court yesterday said in a statement that it reversed its previous ruling because Tama Talum did not make the gun he used.
“Tama Talum went hunting to bring food for his family, not for commercial use,” the statement said. “Even though he did not secure government permission in advance, the Controlling Guns, Ammunition and Knives Act does not apply in this case.”
Article 18-1 of the Wildlife Conservation Act does not apply to indigenous people, it added.
The Wildlife Conservation Act and the Indigenous Peoples Basic Law (原住民族基本法) protect the rights of indigenous people to hunt and hold festivals based on their traditions and cultures, but the laws do not specify the types of animals they could hunt, it added.
The Constitutional Court recognizes that hunting and killing wildlife is part of indigenous cultures and protected species should not be included, so it is difficult to see why a criminal punishment was warranted in this case, it said.
Hong Kong singer Andy Lau’s (劉德華) concert in Taipei tonight has been cancelled due to Typhoon Kong-rei and is to be held at noon on Saturday instead, the concert organizer SuperDome said in a statement this afternoon. Tonight’s concert at Taipei Arena was to be the first of four consecutive nightly performances by Lau in Taipei, but it was called off at the request of Taipei Metro, the operator of the venue, due to the weather, said the organizer. Taipei Metro said the concert was cancelled out of consideration for the audience’s safety. The decision disappointed a number of Lau’s fans who had
Commuters in Taipei picked their way through debris and navigated disrupted transit schedules this morning on their way to work and school, as the city was still working to clear the streets in the aftermath of Typhoon Kong-rey. By 11pm yesterday, there were estimated 2,000 trees down in the city, as well as 390 reports of infrastructure damage, 318 reports of building damage and 307 reports of fallen signs, the Taipei Public Works Department said. Workers were mobilized late last night to clear the debris as soon as possible, the department said. However, as of this morning, many people were leaving messages
A Canadian dental assistant was recently indicted by prosecutors after she was caught in August trying to smuggle 32kg of marijuana into Taiwan, the Aviation Police Bureau said on Wednesday. The 30-year-old was arrested on Aug. 4 after arriving on a flight to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Chang Tsung-lung (張驄瀧), a squad chief in the Aviation Police Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division, told reporters. Customs officials noticed irregularities when the woman’s two suitcases passed through X-ray baggage scanners, Chang said. Upon searching them, officers discovered 32.61kg of marijuana, which local media outlets estimated to have a market value of more than NT$50 million (US$1.56
FATALITIES: The storm claimed at least two lives — a female passenger in a truck that was struck by a falling tree and a man who was hit by a utility pole Workers cleared fallen trees and shop owners swept up debris yesterday after one of the biggest typhoons to hit the nation in decades claimed at least two lives. Typhoon Kong-rey was packing winds of 184kph when it slammed into eastern Taiwan on Thursday, uprooting trees, triggering floods and landslides, and knocking out power as it swept across the nation. A 56-year-old female foreign national died from her injuries after the small truck she was in was struck by a falling tree on Provincial Highway 14A early on Thursday. The second death was reported at 8pm in Taipei on Thursday after a 48-year-old man
RSS