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Ex-guard wins appeal in assassination case

The Taiwan High Court yesterday found former army honor guard member Chu Chao-kang (屈肇康) not guilty of threatening President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) life after Chu posted a message on the Internet that had been thought to contain an insinuation about assassinating the president.

"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 (陸海空軍刑法), which stipulates that anyone who distributes messages encouraging soldiers to carry out any form of seditious activity faces a sentence of no less than seven years in prison.

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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