The Taiwan High Court yesterday found former army honor guard member Chu Chao-kang (
"The court believes that Chu's message on the Internet was just his personal opinion. In addition, Chu never did anything to actually carry out his `threat,'" the judges said in their verdict, which is final.
The case made the headlines last year after Chu left a message in a Yahoo Internet chatroom identifying himself as a member of the army honor guard.
He wrote that while Chen welcomed Nauru President Ludwig Scotty with a combined Air Force, Army and Naval honor guard on March 7 last year, "I almost could not resist the urge to poke my M-1 rifle into the president's head."
The M-1 rifles carried by the honor guard are not loaded, but they are fitted with bayonets.
Chu, a Soochow University graduate with a degree in Japanese literature, was immediately relieved of his duties and detained by military prosecutors.
On Aug. 6 last year, military prosecutors released Chu and re-assigned him to a separate unit to finish his military service, but also indicted him on charges related to Article 16 of the Military Criminal Code (
When Chu completed his compulsory military service in December last year, he filed an appeal to the Taiwan High Court, which led to yesterday's final verdict.
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