Author Neil Peng (馮光遠) on Friday was found not guilty of defamation by the Taipei District Court for calling former National Security Council secretary-general King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) a “court-certified male prostitute, a jerk, a scumbag and a wretch.”
Neil was first sued by King after he said that King and President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had a “special/sexual relationship” (特殊性關係).
After the Taiwan High Court in March last year ruled that Peng was not guilty of defamation, Peng wrote an article in which he labeled King “a court-certified male prostitute, a jerk, a scumbag and a wretch.”
King promptly filed suit against Peng for public humiliation and defamation, as well as filing an appeal over the High Court ruling.
He won the appeal on Oct. 6 last year, with the judges ruling that Peng should pay King NT$1 million (US$30,848 at current exchange rates) in damages and publish apologies, but Peng appealed that verdict.
The lawsuit over the comments in the article was decided on Friday, with the judges ruling that the subject of Peng’s comments in the article was how his freedom of speech had been violated by the first lawsuit and how the nation’s politics is affected by bureaucrats directly appointed by the president, therefore they could not be considered vitriolic and did not amount to humiliation.
As to the defamation charge, the court said that King, a former top official, was a public figure and Peng’s comments pertained to public interests.
Although Peng’s comments were rude and not necessarily appropriate, they were not intended to tarnish King’s reputation, it said, adding that it should be deemed that the comments were made out of goodwill and within reason.
King said he would appeal Friday’s verdict, adding that it was “unacceptable” that the judges deemed Peng’s criticism was made “out of goodwill.”
Peng’s response to the verdict was that the “vile and undemocratic” system predicated by Ma and King has ended, and that he hoped the incoming government would have the magnanimity to accept criticism.
“However harsh and rude criticism might be, [the government] has to withstand the heat in the kitchen of politics,” Peng said. “Public servants serve the people. Is there any sense in public servants suing people over just a couple of reprimands?”
Peng said he wanted to send King a message that many people have said that they would file suits against King’s “master,” Ma.
Peng said he believes that with the help of transitional justice, those who were “bullied” by Ma and King would come forward to seek justice.
“I hope King will get a taste of how I felt over the past eight years, having to be summoned by a court, appearing in court and being put to trial every once in a while,” he said.
Additional reporting by staff writer
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
Japanese footwear brand Onitsuka Tiger today issued a public apology and said it has suspended an employee amid allegations that the staff member discriminated against a Vietnamese customer at its Taipei 101 store. Posting on the social media platform Threads yesterday, a user said that an employee at the store said that “those shoes are very expensive” when her friend, who is a migrant worker from Vietnam, asked for assistance. The employee then ignored her until she asked again, to which she replied: "We don't have a size 37." The post had amassed nearly 26,000 likes and 916 comments as of this
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software
RSS