Prosecutors yesterday applied to re-examine a child pornography case involving entertainer Mickey Huang (黃子佼), after he was granted a deferred prosecution, sparking a public outcry.
“There is concrete evidence of criminal intent in this case, and it must be dealt with with the most severe punishment,” Minister of Justice Tsai Ching-hsiang (蔡清祥) said. “Our ministry must act swiftly to shut down such child pornography sites.”
Several women last year accused Huang of rape and sexual misconduct. Judicial investigators searched Huang’s office and residence, and seized seven sexually explicit videos involving minors.
Photo: Chiu Yi-chin, Taipei Times
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last week did not charge Huang with contravening the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act (兒童及少年性剝削防制條例), but granted him a deferred prosecution — meaning he would not have a criminal record if he maintained “good behavior” for two years — and ordered him to pay a fine of NT$1.2 million (US$37,477) and write a letter of apology.
It led to a public outcry and prosecutors have applied to the High Prosecutors’ Office to reconsider Huang’s case and examine the reasons he was given a deferred prosecution.
Lee Jinglei (李靚蕾), the former wife of singer Wang Leehom (王力宏), wrote on Instagram yesterday that Taiwan is too lenient regarding crimes involving child pornography and sexual offenses against minors.
“I cannot accept the [deferred prosecution] decision, Taiwan lags far behind US in its punishments for these offenses. An offender in the US could get a sentence of up to 10 years for only possessing a sexual image or video of underage boys and girls, with the average being a six-year, three-month prison term,” she wrote.
“When offenders are found in possession of sex videos of children under the age of 12, or already have a record involving a sexual offense, the punishment in the US can go up to 20 years, with a minimum of 10 years in prison,” Lee said.
Taiwan “should follow other countries in setting up an open database on sex offenders, so that children, teenagers and adults can be warned if there is a sex offender living in their neighborhood,” she said.
“Criminals convicted of sexual assault or engaging in child pornography should be locked up in prisons; they should not be walking around in parks and public places where children are playing,” she added.
Meanwhile, many public figures have lashed out at gaming streamer and YouTuber Chang Chia-hang (張嘉航), nicknamed Godtone (統神), for defending Huang,
Chang was quoted saying: “It is not such a serious matter... Even I would like to have sex with a minor.”
Following the outcry, seven companies yesterday said they had terminated their sponsorship deals with Chang.
The gaming firm Pixel Knights (轟天騎士團) wrote in its announcement that “we are firmly against anyone talking in such a way that endangers society and the online gaming community. The rights of children and women must be fully protected by the law, and underage girls especially need to be protected against exploitation.”
“From now on, we will closely scrutinize which celebrity figures we choose to cooperate with... Let us create a healthy environment for the gaming community,” Pixel Knights said.
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