The Taiwan High Court yesterday overturned the 1997 fraud conviction of cult leader Sung Chi-li (宋七力), saying there was insufficient evidence that he had deceived the plaintiffs by claiming to have supernatural powers and encouraging his followers to donate money.
The court ruled that his activities were simply religious activities, which are protected by the Constitution.
"There is no evidence to prove that Sung cheated his followers and forced them to donate. In other words, the judges decided that Sung's followers believed in Sung's supernatural powers out of their own free will and that their donations to Sung were simply religious activities. The law does not have the right to interfere with people's beliefs," said Tsai Kuo-tsai (蔡國在), the spokesman for the Taiwan High Court.
Sung's two assistants, Cheng Chen-tung (
Judge Lee Chun-di's (
Asked whether the court also believed that Sung's "divine photos" were true, Tsai said, "We cannot prove whether they were true or false but that was not the point that the judges were considering."
Sung's "divine photos" -- established during his trial to have been produced using basic computer graphics skills -- were alleged by the plaintiffs to have been used by him to win people's trust. They usually depicted colorful rays of light in the sky and a ring of light around his head.
Sung, Cheng and Lo were sued by their followers Chiang Cheng (
They were alleged to have obtained NT$3 billion in donations from followers by deceiving them with claims that Sung had "supernatural powers" which he was able to use to help people.
At their trial on Oct. 30, 1997, the three defendants were all found guilty. Sung and Cheng were both sentenced to seven years in jail. Lo received a two-year sentence.
Neither the plaintiffs nor the defendants were present at yesterday's appeal hearing.
But Sung said during a TV interview that he was glad to learn that he had finally been found innocent.
"I have already said more than once that I did not ask or force anybody to make any donations. What I did was nothing more than help people who were in need," he said.
As of press time yesterday, none of the seven defendants had said whether they would appeal.
Chief Prosecutor Hsueh Wei-ping (
Taoyuan County Police Department Director Hou You-yi (侯友宜), who recently joined the DPP and is one of the officers who investigated the case seven years ago, declined to comment on the verdict yesterday.
Kaohsiung City Mayor Frank Hsieh (
According to police, Sung insisted during his investigation that he had supernatural powers and could get people to do whatever he commanded.
The police therefore invited him to display his powers in public. But he failed to persuade a standing police officer to sit down despite repeated attempts.
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