Prominent leaders of the Sunflower movement yesterday entered not guilty pleas as their trial for storming the legislature began, saying they would face the justice system head-on.
Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆), Chen Wei-ting (陳為廷) and Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) made the remarks at the Taipei District Court yesterday.
They face charges related to student-led protesters occupying the Legislative Yuan’s main chamber from March 18 to April 10, 2014, in what became known as the Sunflower movement.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
The trio were among nine defendants summoned to appear in court yesterday.
Judges reviewed more than 100 minutes of video from March 18 to determine whether the defendants were guilty of inciting others to commit an offense, obstructing an officer in discharge of duties and illegal entry, among other charges.
Prosecutors said there are a total of 21 defendants, with Lin, Chen and Huang among the first of three groups scheduled for court appearances.
Prior to entering the court room, Lin said: “I feel this is a good opportunity to defend ourselves in court and to argue the legitimacy of our actions. We have been consistent in our stance when taking on the justice system: that we will face it head-on and we will not evade any legal responsibility.”
“The Sunflower movement was to rescue Taiwan’s constitutional democracy, which was teetering on the edge of a precipice,” Huang said. “So we had to initiate this civil disobedience action to save it. Under our nation’s new democratic system, this movement has a high degree of legitimacy. So we hope these issues can be deliberated upon during the judicial proceedings of this case.”
He said the protest was precipitated by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chang Ching-chung (張慶忠), who, in violation of legislative procedures, attempted to fast-track the cross-strait service trade agreement through the legislature in 30 seconds on March 17.
“Due to the so-called ‘30-second incident,’ which destroyed Taiwan’s constitutional democracy, the real culprits were Chang Ching-chung and [former president] Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), and also the party they belonged to,” Huang told reporters.
“We fervently believe we are not guilty [of the charges laid by prosecutors]. The guilty ones are Ma, who trampled upon Taiwan’s democratic system, and Chang, who wrecked the legislature’s checks-and-balance mechanism. Those who stood up with courage against them are not guilty, as they tried to save Taiwan’s democracy and freedom,” he said.
Chen said he was not at liberty to speak about the case, because he is serving at a government agency in lieu of his mandatory military service.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying