Women’s rights activists yesterday condemned the High Court’s ruling that former television host Mickey Huang (黃子佼) not serve time in prison, saying that the judges chose to believe Huang’s claim of mere curiosity in purchasing sexually explicit videos of minors, but ignoring mental and physical harm suffered by the victims.
Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation members issued a statement following the High Court’s second ruling on Tuesday, which handed down a one-and-a-half-year prison sentence, suspended for four years, to the entertainer, which means he would not serve prison time if he does not reoffend during the probation period.
The ruling was based on contraventions of the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法).
Photo: CNA
Huang would also have to complete 180 hours of community service and attend three sessions of legal education.
Huang purchased more than 2,200 pornographic videos of 47 victims, including adults and minors, the foundation said, adding that the court “ignored the ‘digital sexual violence’ suffered by the victims, as most of them were coerced or forced to act in pornographic videos,” which were uploaded to an online forum Huang was a paid member of.
The Taipei District Court in its first ruling in December last year convicted Huang on contraventions of the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act (兒童及少年性剝削防制條例), imposing an eight-month prison term and a fine of NT$100,000, the foundation said.
The foundation also questioned the statement issued by Huang and his lawyer prior to Tuesday’s ruling, which stated that they had reached out-of-court settlements with all of the victims, and that it was “due to his own ignorance and curiosity” that he downloaded the sexually explicit videos of minors.
The statement also claimed that the videos were mainly of adults, and that he downloaded most of them prior to February 2023, when legislators amended the law, it said.
The foundation also rejected Huang’s claim that he had reached a settlement with “all 30 victims,” as there are 17 who have not been in contact with Huang, it said, adding that it might have been a ploy to win over the judges and receive a lenient sentence.
The Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act was amended from 2015 to punish the possession of sexual content depicting minors, the foundation said, adding that Huang’s actions were then already contraventions of the law, rather than only after February 2023.
“The download and purchase of illegal sexual videos, whether containing adults or minors, leads to life-long pain and suffering for the victims,” it said. “Huang’s claim that he mostly bought the adult porn videos is an attempt to offset the serious nature of his offenses.”
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