Two Tsou tribe Aboriginies, Wang Chuan-fa (
With the help of the Legal Aid Foundation, the Millet Foundation, the Taiwan Association for Human Rights and the Judicial Reform Foundation, the Wangs held a press conference in Taipei yesterday to discuss their ordeal and seek help from Wu Ying-chao (吳英昭), the new public prosecutor general.
According to the Wangs -- who live in the Alishan area -- the story began on Feb. 19 last year. Wang Chuan-fa, the leader of the tribe, and his son Wang Chien-kwang noticed Chen Teng-mao (
The Wangs stopped their car and asked Chen who he was, where he came from and told him that he was trespassing. In addition, they also told Chen that he should not have collected the honey without getting permission.
Wang Chien-kwang said that they intended to ask Chen to drive his car to a local police station with them over his behavior. Chen told them that he was with another two friends of his who were hunting in the surrounding area whom he had to wait for.
According to Wang Chien-kwang, Chen agreed to turn over the honey and the Wangs got back in their car and went to the funeral. They planned to report the incident to police afterward, Wang Chien-kwang said.
However, when the Wangs returned from the funeral, local police officers approached to them, saying Chen had accused them of robbery.
The case was regarded by Chiayi prosecutors as a "minor crime," for which there is a special judicial procedure where the case is decided on the basis of statements without a hearing. The father and son were indicted by Chiayi prosecutors and referred to the court of minor crimes under the Chiayi District Court. They were convicted without a hearing, and sentenced to six months each, but their sentences were suspended for two years. Both the Wangs were first-time offenders.
Hsu Chao-ching (
"We were merely protecting our property and we were just trying to figure out who the stranger was and what he was doing," Wang Chien-kwang said.
"When we discovered that he was stealing honey from us, we tried to get rid of him. That was all we did. Was that a crime?"
In the meantime, Wang Chien-kwang said that he is also a volunteer police officer in his tribe and checking out suspicious-looking people in the area is part of his job.
"The rationale of this case is that it is basically a crime to act on one's rights on his or her own property," said Cheng Wen-lung (
Joseph Lin (
"Usually, it is almost impossible to successfully appeal a case where a verdict has been given, so we do not usually assist those kinds of applicants," Lin said.
"We decided to help the Wangs because this case is special in its outrageousness."
Judicial Reform Foundation Executive-General Kao Yung-cheng (高涌誠) said that judicial officials were not careful enough when they handled the case.
In addition, judges rendered a verdict in the case without any evidence since the bottle of honey was returned to Chen before the case was referred to the court.
"Prosecutors indicted them on Aug. 22 last year and the court of minor crimes received the case on Aug. 26. A verdict was handed down the next day and the Wangs received word of the verdict on Aug. 28," Kao said.
"There was a lot of disrespect shown toward Aboriginal people in this case," he added.
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