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.”
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
RSS