The High Court on Thursday upheld a three-month sentence that is commutable to a fine for a man who sprayed paint on Hong Kong democracy campaigner Denise Ho (何韻詩) in Taipei in 2019, dismissing an appeal by prosecutors for a harsher punishment.
The Taipei District Court in January sentenced the main attacker, Hu Chih-wei (胡志偉), to three months in prison, which could be commuted to a fine of NT$90,000, while 10 alleged accomplices were found not guilty.
A masked man threw red paint over Ho, a Hong Kong singer and democracy advocate, when she was being interviewed by reporters ahead of a protest in Taipei in September 2019 in support of Hong Kong’s democracy movement.
Photo: CNA
The attack left Ho’s hair and clothes covered in red paint.
The masked man and another person were immediately detained by police and later identified as Hu and Liang Tai-fu (梁太富) — members of the Taipei-based China Unification Promotion Party.
Further investigation led prosecutors in June 2020 to file four criminal charges — coercion, public humiliation, damage to property and obstruction of assembly — against Hu, Liang and nine other people identified as being involved in the attack.
However, the district court in January ruled that Hu was only liable for damage caused in the incident, handing down a three-month sentence.
Although evidence showed that Hu threw paint on Ho to humiliate her and ruin her clothes, the incident did not hinder Ho’s interview nor did it obstruct the protest, because Hu’s actions lasted a short time, the district court said.
The ruling also said that bad behavior by members of political parties is not a problem that can be solved by courts imposing heavy penalties, but rather requires politicians to set a good example and calm social antagonism.
Prosecutors had sought an eight-month sentence for Hu.
The High Court’s decision is final and cannot be appealed.
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