The Taipei District Court has issued its verdict on a case of physical violence that took place in the Legislative Yuan in 1998, but both parties concerned expressed dissatisfaction with the sentence.
Under the verdict issued on Friday, independent Legislator Lo Fu-chu (
Lo yesterday protested what he called "political interference" in the judicial system. Yu, on the other hand, accused the judge of deliberately handing down a light punishment to help the three to avoid imprisonment.
According to the Criminal Code, a person convicted of inflicting bodily injuries can face imprisonment of up to three years. A sentence of fewer than 60 days in prison, however, can be substituted by the payment of a fine.
Lo, a convener of the legislature's Judiciary Committee who also suffered injuries in the scuffle, denounced the verdict as unfair.
"The judicial authorities accepted the one-sided story of Legislator Yu Jan-daw and never examined the videotape recording the entire course of events," Lo said.
"Now the people who injured me remain beyond the reach of the law. Where is the fairness of such a judicial system?" Lo added.
Lo said it had been inappropriate for the judiciary to get involved in the case in the first place, because he said it was a matter concerning the "autonomy" and "self-discipline" of the legislature.
"How come the judicial branch is now siding with the DPP? Does this mean politics comes before the law?" Lo asked.
The incident took place on June 15, 1998, when legislators were reviewing proposed amendments to the Farmers' Association Law (
In the middle of the meeting, some DPP legislators, disagreeing with the way the meeting was being conducted, protested to the chairman and blocked the continuation of the meeting.
Lo later joined the quarrel and started the scuffle, which involved several dozen legislators. Yu was assaulted by Lo, Lin and Chou when he tried to mediate and stop the fight.
Yu said he had filed a suit against the three legislators "because there is absolutely no self-discipline in the legislature."
"The legislature's disciplinary committee has never held a meeting, and that's why I resorted to legal means. Furthermore, physical violence isn't protected by immunity from judicial prosecution enjoyed by lawmakers," Yu said.
Yu said he would file an appeal with the court, as the sentence was too light and insufficient to curb violence in the legislature.
"Since the detention can be replaced by a fine, isn't this a skillful way for the judge to accommodate Lo?" Yu said.
Rejecting Lo's claim that the court had not collected any videotape as evidence, Yu said there were in fact videotapes provided by several TV companies which recorded the entire chain of events.
Yu said that Lo was injured when he was scuffling with other legislators.
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
NO CONFIDENCE MOTION? The premier said that being toppled by the legislature for defending the Constitution would be a democratic badge of honor for him Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday announced that the Cabinet would not countersign the amendments to the local revenue-sharing law passed by the Legislative Yuan last month. Cho said the decision not to countersign the amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) was made in accordance with the Constitution. “The decision aims to safeguard our Constitution,” he said. The Constitution stipulates the president shall, in accordance with law, promulgate laws and issue mandates with the countersignature of the head of the Executive Yuan, or with the countersignatures of both the head of the Executive Yuan and ministers or
CABINET APPROVAL: People seeking assisted reproduction must be assessed to determine whether they would be adequate parents, the planned changes say Proposed amendments to the Assisted Reproduction Act (人工生殖法) advanced yesterday by the Executive Yuan would grant married lesbian couples and single women access to legal assisted reproductive services. The proposed revisions are “based on the fundamental principle of respecting women’s reproductive autonomy,” Cabinet spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) quoted Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君), who presided over a Cabinet meeting earlier yesterday, as saying at the briefing. The draft amendment would be submitted to the legislature for review. The Ministry of Health and Welfare, which proposed the amendments, said that experts on children’s rights, gender equality, law and medicine attended cross-disciplinary meetings, adding that
RSS