Madou Precinct (麻豆) plans to appeal the decision of a Tainan judge to drop charges against three Taiwan People’s Communist Party members who had placed a mask designed to look like the Chinese flag on a statue of a Japanese engineer.
The precinct had initially said that it would not appeal, but on Wednesday reversed its decision, saying that it wanted to prevent “such illegal behavior from being indulged or encouraged.”
Taiwan People’s Communist Party Chairman Lin Te-wang (林德旺) and party members Chang Meng-chung (張孟崇) and Cheng Chien-hsin (鄭建炘) placed the mask on a statue of Japanese engineer Yoichi Hatta, the Tainan District Court said.
Photo: Tsai Wen-chu, Taipei Times
In a video they filmed and posted online, the three also made statements such as “do not let the coronavirus from Japan and the US infect Taiwanese,” “Japanese, go home” and “Taiwan is part of China,” it said.
They were charged with causing a public disturbance in contravention of the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法).
Tainan District Court judge Hsu An-chieh (徐安傑) on Tuesday ruled that the three were expressing personal opinions, which were protected by freedom of speech, and that they did not cause an uproar, shout, hamper others or pose a threat to public safety.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) on Wednesday said that the men’s words and actions had exceeded the scope of freedom of speech.
“Such behavior betrays Taiwan under the guise of freedom. Could you go to China and make statements in support of Taiwan?” he asked. “Looking at this as a free speech issue and not one of national security is to apply the law too rigidly.”
Lawyer Chou Wu-jung (周武榮) said he felt Hsu had made his own interpretation of the law, and had referenced it improperly.
Lawyer Weng Wei-lun (翁偉倫) said the judge had unnecessarily discussed free speech at length, while failing to focus on whether the men’s behavior constituted a public nuisance.
One judge who spoke on condition of anonymity said that while he could accept the ruling, he did not agree with Hsu expressing his political inclinations in his ruling statement.
Doing so could make some question whether the ruling was politically motivated, they said.
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