The Taipei District Court on Friday ruled that the Taipei City Government must pay NT$300,000 in compensation to a man who was beaten by police during a crackdown on the Sunflower movement protests at the Executive Yuan in March and April last year.
Lin Ming-hui (林明慧), a teacher from Taichung, filed the suit alleging excessive use of force in violation of the Act Governing the Use of Police Weapons (警械使用條例).
Lin sought compensation from the Executive Yuan, Taipei City Government, National Police Agency and Taipei City Police Department.
Photo: Chang Wen-chuan, Taipei Times
Lin said he took part in a sit-in protest at the Executive Yuan on March 24 last year.
“The protesters sat on the ground peacefully, and nobody had a weapon. But the riot police used violent tactics and wielded batons, striking people,” he said.
A picture of Lin walking away to receive medical treatment, his face and clothing covered in blood, was among the most prominent photographs featured in media coverage of the protesters’ occupation of the Executive Yuan.
Following Friday’s ruling, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said that his government would not appeal the decision.
Lin said he wants to salute the judge for the decision, as winning the case has symbolic meaning.
“However, the government is still applying the same old authoritarian thinking to the current protest by high-school students against textbook curriculum guideline changes,” he said.
Lawyer Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said the ruling was to rectify the government’s unlawful actions and could be used for reference in future litigation.
“It was regrettable that the court did not hold former premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) responsible, as he ordered the police to remove the protesters,” Koo said.
The ruling cited the use of excessive police force against protesters, as Lin was holding on to another person next to him when police tried to disperse the crowd by pulling them away one by one.
“Police may use physical force to remove and carry people away, but when using batons, the officers should only have struck at Lin’s hands, and not at his head,” the ruling said.
It added that in Lin’s case, the officers had violated Articles 9 and 10 of the Act Governing the Use of Police Weapons, which state: “The police should avoid using lethal force unless the situation is so imminent that the lives of officers or bystanders are being threatened,” and “after using the police weapons, the police officer must report his/her use to his/her immediate supervisors except for using a baton as a way to give directions.”
Throughout the hearing and investigation, the police force did not take steps to identify the officer who hit Lin. Instead, it gave the captain of the riot police squad two demerits as punishment.
Lin’s lawyer, Lu Chiu-yuan (呂秋遠), said that was not good enough.
“It has been over a year since the incident, but police are still unable to find out the identity of the officer,” he said. “I hope Mayor Ko can help to find the officer responsible, because we must not let taxpayers foot the bill for police violence.”
Two US House of Representatives committees yesterday condemned China’s attempt to orchestrate a crash involving Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim’s (蕭美琴) car when she visited the Czech Republic last year as vice president-elect. Czech local media in March last year reported that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light while following Hsiao’s car from the airport, and Czech intelligence last week told local media that Chinese diplomats and agents had also planned to stage a demonstrative car collision. Hsiao on Saturday shared a Reuters news report on the incident through her account on social media platform X and wrote: “I
‘BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS’: The US military’s aim is to continue to make any potential Chinese invasion more difficult than it already is, US General Ronald Clark said The likelihood of China invading Taiwan without contest is “very, very small” because the Taiwan Strait is under constant surveillance by multiple countries, a US general has said. General Ronald Clark, commanding officer of US Army Pacific (USARPAC), the US Army’s largest service component command, made the remarks during a dialogue hosted on Friday by Washington-based think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Asked by the event host what the Chinese military has learned from its US counterpart over the years, Clark said that the first lesson is that the skill and will of US service members are “unmatched.” The second
STANDING TOGETHER: Amid China’s increasingly aggressive activities, nations must join forces in detecting and dealing with incursions, a Taiwanese official said Two senior Philippine officials and one former official yesterday attended the Taiwan International Ocean Forum in Taipei, the first high-level visit since the Philippines in April lifted a ban on such travel to Taiwan. The Ocean Affairs Council hosted the two-day event at the National Taiwan University Hospital International Convention Center. Philippine Navy spokesman Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, Coast Guard spokesman Grand Commodore Jay Tarriela and former Philippine Presidential Communications Office assistant secretary Michel del Rosario participated in the forum. More than 100 officials, experts and entrepreneurs from 15 nations participated in the forum, which included discussions on countering China’s hybrid warfare
MORE DEMOCRACY: The only solution to Taiwan’s current democratic issues involves more democracy, including Constitutional Court rulings and citizens exercising their civil rights , Lai said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is not the “motherland” of the Republic of China (ROC) and has never owned Taiwan, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday. The speech was the third in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to deliver across Taiwan. Taiwan is facing external threats from China, Lai said at a Lions Clubs International banquet in Hsinchu. For example, on June 21 the army detected 12 Chinese aircraft, eight of which entered Taiwanese waters, as well as six Chinese warships that remained in the waters around Taiwan, he said. Beyond military and political intimidation, Taiwan
RSS