The High Court yesterday handed down a reduced prison sentence of six months to suspended Hsinchu mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) for falsely accusing a US academic of defamation.
The punishment cannot be converted to a fine, but it can be appealed.
The accusation stems from Facebook posts made in 2021 and 2022 by Chen Shih-fen (陳時奮), a political pundit and director of Western Washington University’s Center for International Business writing under the pseudonym Tario Ong (翁達瑞).
Photo: Hung Mei-hsiu, Taipei Times
Chen said that Kao, in her doctoral thesis for the University of Cincinnati, used significant amounts of uncited content from two Institute for Information Industry studies that she had coauthored.
He also said that her academic adviser had removed her name from the roll and the university had removed her thesis from its database.
Kao, who said that the accusations were untrue, sued Chen for aggravated defamation.
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office did not pursue litigation, saying that Chen had correctly identified 18 areas in which Kao’s thesis closely resembled the two institute studies.
Chen later filed a countersuit accusing Kao of making false accusations against him.
In the first trial, Kao was sentenced to 10 months in prison by the Taipei District Court.
The case was appealed and transferred to the High Court.
In the second trial, Chen requested a heavy sentence for Kao, accusing her of distorting facts for election-related gain and having a bad attitude.
Kao said that she was innocent and requested an acquittal.
Kao vowed to appeal again yesterday, saying that the University of Cincinnati has confirmed twice that there was no issue with her doctoral thesis.
She said allegations against the academic were based on facts with no intention to mislead or falsely accuse others.
Additional reporting by Chang Wen-chuan and Kayleigh Madjar
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