The Taiwan High Court yesterday handed a not guilty verdict to a group of pan-blue lawmakers who were charged with violating the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) in March 2004 and accused of leading supporters in a violent rampage outside the Central Election Commission (CEC).
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lee Ching-hua (李慶華), former KMT legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) and former People First Party (PFP) legislator Feng Ting-kuo (馮定國) were found not guilty, while the charges against late PFP legislator Lin Huei-kwung (林惠官) were dropped after he passed away in August 2009.
Lee, Chiu, Feng and Lin — all lawmakers at the time — mobilized a crowd and staged a protest outside the CEC building on March 26, 2004, prior to the commission’s declaration of the result of the 2004 presidential election, when then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and then-vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won a second term.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Then-KMT presidential candidate Lien Chan (連戰) lost the race to Chen by a razor-thin margin of fewer than 30,000 votes — or 0.228 percent of the vote.
The four insisted there were controversies left over from the 2004 presidential election and that Chen and Lu should not have been officially declared the winners of their re-election bid.
After the four were invited into the building, a crowd attacked the CEC building, throwing eggs and breaking glass doors and windows, despite police three times asking them to leave the premises and disperse.
The four were prosecuted for violating the Assembly and Parade Act and were sentenced to three months in jail by the Taipei District Court.
Meanwhile, Chiu, Feng and Lin received an additional sentence of 25 days in detention for insulting a government office.
When the case was appealed to the Taiwan High Court, Lee, Chiu and Feng all denied the charges, saying the did not mobilize the crowd and they were not there when police requested that the crowd disperse and so could not be considered responsible.
The court yesterday said that there was no evidence that the four were the leaders of the demonstration and that they were not present when the conflict occurred, hence Lee, Chiu and Feng were declared not guilty.
Responding to the verdict, Lee said through his office aide that the prosecution was a politically motivated one and he was happy that the eight-year legal battle had ended in a victory.
Court verdicts relating to recent violations of the Assembly and Parade Act:
1. In 2008, former Taiwan Association for Human Rights chairman Lin Chia-fan (林佳範) was indicted for leading a demonstration in front of the Legislative Yuan calling for amendments to the Assembly and Parade Act during the Wild Strawberries Student Movement, when Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) visited Taiwan.
Lin was acquitted of violating the Assembly and Parade Act on Feb. 23.
2. In 2006, charges were filed against red-shirt campaign leader Shih Ming-teh (施明德) and 15 others for violation of the Act after they launched a campaign which sought to force then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) from office. Although the Taipei District Court ruled that Shih and the others were not guilty, the prosecution appealed to the High Court. Shih and the 15 other defendants were found not guilty by the High Court on April 8, 2010.
3. In May 2007, then-People First Party Legislator Fu Kun-chi led a protest in front of the Environmental Protection Administration, calling for construction of the Suao-Hualien Freeway. When Fu led protesters to the Control Yuan on the way to submit his petition to the Executive Yuan, the police said the assembly had gone beyond the geographical bounds of the original application, indicating that the area was beyond the legal scope for assembly.
The Taipei District Court sentenced Fu to 55 days in jail on the grounds that “the assembly did not disband when ordered to do so by the authorities, and disregarded such instructions despite numerous warnings.”
In November 2008, the High Court denied Fu’s appeal and that ruling was final.
4. Former Green Party chairman Kao Cheng-yan (高成炎) staged a protest at the intersection of Zhongshan S Road and Renai Road in Taipei City in April 1994, criticizing the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for tearing down its central party headquarters and erecting a new building. During his sit-in, Kao called a radio station and asked for the assistance of taxi drivers. Former Taiwan Tribune deputy editor-in-chief Chang Chin-tse (張金策) and Lin Cheng-Hsiu (林正修) went with the taxi driver supporters to Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and were suspected of vandalizing public property inside the hall. Kao was given a final sentence of three months in jail or a fine. He refused to pay the fine and was subsequently jailed.
5. In January 2010, National Taiwan University professor Tsay Ting-kuei (蔡丁貴), who at the time had already been subjected to 28 fines totaling NT$840,000 for violating the Act, was charged with preventing public servants from carrying out their duties after being arrested by police when protesting in front of the Presidential Office.
In the first trial, Tsay was found not guilty because of insufficient evidence, but after the High Court re-examined a CD containing new evidence, it determined that he had clearly obstructed civil servants from doing their duty and handed down a final sentence of 30 days in prison or a NT$30,000 fine.
Information compiled by staff reporter Lin Ching-chuan
Translated by Jake Chung, Staff Writer
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique