The Taipei District Court on Saturday acquitted a man who was charged after burning the Republic of China (ROC) flag on the grounds that his act was a form of constitutionally protected speech.
Lee Chia-yu (李嘉宇) was accused by the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office of inciting others to contravene Article 118 of the Criminal Code, which prohibits destroying, damaging or pulling down the national flag or emblem in public for the purpose of insulting the nation, the court said.
The flag-burning occurred during a march on the evening of Feb. 27 last year near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, the court said, adding that the pro-independence Alliance of Referendum for Taiwan and the 908 Taiwan Republic Campaign organized the event to commemorate the 228 Incident.
The 228 Incident refers to protesters being shot by security personnel on Feb. 28, 1949, initiating a series of government crackdowns that marked the beginning of the White Terror era.
Allegedly, Lee told the crowd to light a flag on fire at 9:47pm and another unidentified man provided the demonstrators with a flag that had been prepared for that purpose, the court said.
Lee denied the charges and told the court that the prosecutors had failed to prove that the burned object was actually the ROC flag, or that he intended to insult the nation, the court said.
The court quoted Lee as saying that his intent was to demonstrate that the ROC is not the nation of the Taiwanese, who should create their own state by declaring Taiwan’s independence.
While the court rejected Lee’s assertions that no actual flag was burned, he clearly stated to the court that the burning was a symbolic expression of a political view, which is deemed a highly protected class of speech by the constitution, the presiding judge wrote in the ruling.
The verdict is not final and the case could be retried in a higher court.
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