Seven student leaders of the Sunflower movement and an academic voluntarily reported to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office to submit to prosecutorial interviews yesterday.
Student leader Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) and 25 other students had been informed that they had to go the Taipei Police Department at 4pm yesterday for questioning.
However, instead, seven of the movement’s leaders and Academia Sinica associate research law fellow Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) went to the District Prosecutors’ Office at 1:30pm yesterday asking to be questioned by prosecutors directly.
Photo: CNA
Lawyer Wellington Koo (顧立雄) and his legal team accompanied the group of eight: Huang Kuo-chang, Lin, Chen Wei-ting (陳為廷), Dennis Wei (魏揚), Huang Yu-fen (黃郁芬), Chou Fu-i (周馥儀) and two other students.
“We have come to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office today to make known our position, which is that we will face any investigation honestly and fearlessly, determined to take responsibility for our actions,” Wei said in a statement on behalf of the students.
“Based on the principle of public disobedience, we students took substantial action to uphold the Constitution and our democracy, which are in peril. We will shoulder any due legal responsibility and will not seek to avoid any political, historical or social responsibility,” he added.
When the group arrived, the District Prosecutors’ Office sent eight prosecutors to conduct one-on-one interviews with them that lasted about 90 minutes.
“As the students’ attorney, I believe they are innocent,” Koo said, adding that the prosecutors said they might summon the seven again after reviewing the evidence gathered.
The students, who led the occupation of the Legislative Yuan on March 18 and reportedly also the storming of the Executive Yuan on March 23, face charges of obstructing an officer in the performance of their duties; destruction, abandonment and damage of property; and breaking and entering.
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