Prosecutors have insisted on appealing a ruling that cleared an activist on a charge related to throwing a shoe at President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
The Taipei District Court last month ruled that Peter Wang (王獻極), the convener of the 908 Taiwan Republic Campaign, did not violate the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) on Dec. 10, 2012, by hurling a shoe and an envelope at Ma, who was delivering a speech at Jingmei Human Rights Memorial and Cultural Park in New Taipei City.
Wang yesterday said he had been subpoenaed by the court on Tuesday and that prosecutors had decided to appeal the verdict.
The reason for the appeal, Wang said, citing the prosecutors, was that “security agents had stepped forward to remove [the protester],” which showed that Wang was disrupting the event.
According to the court ruling, Wang did not aggressively disrupt the meeting and Ma’s speech was not interrupted by the flying shoe, so he could not be convicted of the charges filed by prosecutors.
Wang, infuriated by the appeal, said prosecutors were attempting to incriminate him by simply referring to the actions of security agents.
“How is this different from the so-called pre-emptive detention during the student movement?” Wang asked.
He said he is considering filing a defamation countersuit, as the reason prosecutors have offered is simply unacceptable.
Wang also called on Ma to personally take legal action against him for insulting the nation’s president “instead of squandering the nation’s judicial resources by deploying prosecutors to sue me in the name of the country.”
“There are so many things to be done. Why the campaign against me, a nobody?” Wang asked, adding that he suspected there were political motives behind the appeal.
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