Legislator-at-Large Wu Sz-huai (???) of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) was not guilty of incitement following his role in a 2018 demonstration against military pension cuts that turned violent, the Taiwan High Court ruled Tuesday.
The high court supported the ruling of Taiwan Taipei District Court in August, wherein Wu, the deputy head of a veterans group at the time, was determined to have not incited violence when he spoke at a rally in front of the Legislative Yuan on April 25, 2018.
The case cannot be appealed.
Wu has the right to freedom of speech since he was simply speaking against the reform, the high court found.
In the indictment, Taiwan Taipei District Prosecutors Office alleged that Wu’s speech caused protesters to clash with police as they sought to break into the Legislature.
The demonstration in question and violent clashes led to 32 police officers and 11 journalists being injured, according to an Executive Yuan statement at the time.
Wu’s group, the 800 Warriors, organized a series of protests over the proposed pension cuts from February 2017, including camping outside the Legislative Yuan.
Twelve others indicted on charges including obstructing officers in the execution of their duties and causing injuries — were found not guilty, given probation or received short prison terms from the district court.
The district court found that Wu’s speech came after the protest became violent and that he even called for demonstrators to be peaceful and rational.
However, prosecutors appealed the initial verdict, saying the court had misunderstood “incitement” as it can also take the form of encouraging people who already intend to commit an illegal act.
In addition, although Wu was protected by freedom of speech, whether his behavior infringed public interest should also be taken into consideration, prosecutors said.
These arguments were rejected by the high court which also made only minimal changes to the earlier ruling on the 12 defendants by Taiwan Taipei District Court.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel