Tama Talum was not guilty of using a rifle to kill protected species without permission, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday, reversing its previous ruling.
The court previously upheld a ruling by the Taitung District Court, which sentenced Tama Talum, a Bunun, to three years and six months in jail for contravening the Controlling Guns, Ammunition and Knives Act (槍砲彈藥刀械管制條例) and the Wildlife Conservation Act (野生動物保育法).
Tama Talum, who was at his home in Taitung when yesterday’s verdict was issued, said that he was happy that the case is finally over after 11 years.
Photo: Wu Cheng-feng, Taipei Times
Aside from thanking supporters of indigenous peoples’ hunting rights, as well as lawyers and government officials who helped him resolve the case, he went into his room and looked at a picture of his mother, who died of COVID-19 in 2022 at the age of 100, telling her that he is “no longer guilty.”
Attorney Lo Hui-shin (羅惠馨), who represented Tama Talum, said that the Supreme Court’s decision was a landmark.
“Hunters of indigenous tribes no longer need to worry when they go hunting, but lawmakers and government agencies still need to fix the regulations governing hunting,” Lo said. “They cannot always seek remedies through the judicial system, which should be the last resort.”
Tama Talum was charged after using a rifle to kill a Taiwan serow, a protected species, and a Reeves’s muntjac in 2013.
He appealed the Taitung District Court’s ruling to the Taiwan High Court and the Supreme Court, which both initially rejected his appeals.
In 2015, then-prosecutor general Yen Ta-ho (顏大和) filed a special appeal on his behalf to the Supreme Court, which in 2017 asked the Constitutional Court to weigh in on the case.
The Constitutional Court in 2021 ruled that the district court’s verdict was partly unconstitutional, resulting in the case being referred to the Supreme Court.
On May 20, 2021, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) pardoned Tama Talum, which kept him from serving prison time.
Despite the pardon, the Supreme Court in 2021 rejected the special appeal filed in 2015.
While the Constitutional Court ruled unconstitutional a portion of the verdict, that did not have any bearing on the part to do with contraventions of the Controlling Guns, Ammunition and Knives Act, the Supreme Court said.
The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office in 2022 launched a second special appeal.
The Supreme Court yesterday said in a statement that it reversed its previous ruling because Tama Talum did not make the gun he used.
“Tama Talum went hunting to bring food for his family, not for commercial use,” the statement said. “Even though he did not secure government permission in advance, the Controlling Guns, Ammunition and Knives Act does not apply in this case.”
Article 18-1 of the Wildlife Conservation Act does not apply to indigenous people, it added.
The Wildlife Conservation Act and the Indigenous Peoples Basic Law (原住民族基本法) protect the rights of indigenous people to hunt and hold festivals based on their traditions and cultures, but the laws do not specify the types of animals they could hunt, it added.
The Constitutional Court recognizes that hunting and killing wildlife is part of indigenous cultures and protected species should not be included, so it is difficult to see why a criminal punishment was warranted in this case, it said.
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