Taiwan artist Sakuliu Pavavaljung was indicted on charges of offences against sexual autonomy on Sept. 21 by Pingtung prosecutors after an investigation that took nine months, according to indictment documents released Wednesday.
Sakuliu, 62, who received a National Award for Arts in 2018, was indicted for sexual assault after Pingtung prosecutors wrapped up their investigation into allegations made against him last year.
The first accusation appeared in an piece titled “Story of a Small Town” posted online in December last year by artist Kuo Yu-ping (郭俞平), who described how a Paiwan artist, she called Kulusa, sexually assaulted a 19-year-old female fan earlier that same year.
Many readers speculated that Sakuliu was the artist alluded to in the story and police launched an investigation.
That allegation was echoed by Yu Yue-lien (余悅廉), an engineer, who wrote in a Facebook post days later that Sakuliu attempted to sexually assault her in the summer of 2006, when she attended an exhibition of his work in Taitung.
Although Sakuliu has denied all allegations, Pingtung prosecutors launched an investigation and have now filed an indictment.
Following the allegations, Taipei Fine Arts Museum announced that Sakuliu would no longer represent Taiwan at the 59th Venice Biennale and Kassel Documenta Fifteen in Germany in 2022.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel