The Taipei District Court yesterday acquitted Flanc Radical spokesperson Yen Ming-wei (顏銘緯) of charges filed after he threw a book at President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in September last year.
Yen, a student at National Sun Yat-sen University, made headlines when he hurled a copy of George Kerr’s Formosa Betrayed at Ma in protest over the president’s cross-strait policies.
Police later charged Yen with obstructing public duties and causing physical harm, citing violations of the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法).
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
The court cleared Yen of all charges, saying that Yen did not obstruct any public duties as Ma was attending a private event when the incident occurred. It ruled that Yen’s behavior did not constitute a violent attack, since the book he threw failed to find its mark.
However, Yen is still in the midst of another legal battle with a man surnamed Lee (李), who claims he was hit in the stomach by the book after it missed Ma.
Yen said that Lee’s ongoing lawsuit against him, over charges of causing bodily harm, clearly reflected the will of the Ma administration, with Lee merely serving as Ma’s “puppet.”
“Ma’s seven years in office have led to regression in many areas; from the backsliding of democracy to the collapse in peoples’ livelihoods, and have led to a new wave of social movements,” he said.
“Damage to Taiwan’s ‘social order’ or economic development was caused by Ma Ying-jeou himself,” Yen said.
He said that it was unimportant whether Ma was carrying out officials duties or not during the incident, as he intended to express his dissent based on Ma’s position as president.
“If I were to be declared guilty of causing harm, then the harm Ma Ying-jeou inflicted to Taiwan over the past seven years would warrant him a lifetime in prison,” Yen said. “My act of dissent pales in comparison with the harm that he caused.”
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Taiwan’s three major international carriers are increasing booking fees, with EVA Airways having already increased the charge to US$28 per flight segment from US$25, while China Airlines (CAL) and Starlux Airlines are set to follow suit. Booking fees are charged by airlines through a global distribution system (GDS) and passed on to passengers. Carriers that apply the fees include CAL, EVA, Starlux and Tigerair Taiwan. A GDS is a computerized network operated by a company that connects airlines with travel agents and ticketing platforms, allowing reservations to be made and processed in real time. Major players include Amadeus, Sabre and Travelport. EVA Air began
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
WATCH FOR HITCHHIKERS: The CDC warned those returning home from Japan to be alert for any contagious diseases that might have come back with them People who have returned from Japan following the World Baseball Classic (WBC) games during the weekend are recommended to watch for symptoms of infectious gastroenteritis, flu and measles for two weeks, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. Flu viruses remain the most common respiratory pathogen in Taiwan in the past four weeks and the influenza B virus accounted for 55.7 percent of the tested cases, exceeding the percentage of influenza A (H3N2) infections and becoming the local dominant strain, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said at a news conference on Tuesday. There were 82,187 hospital visits for
RSS