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Court rescinds fine, slams censorship
FREEDOM OF SPEECH: Taipei City police gave a fine to a
Falun Gong supporter for holding protest signs aimed at Chinese tourists in
front of the Taipei 101 building
By Liu Chih-yuan, Yao Yueh-hung and Vincent
Y. Chao
STAFF REPORTERS
Tuesday, Apr 06, 2010, Page 1
Lawmakers across party lines yesterday expressed support for the Taipei District
Court’s rejection of a fine given to a Falun Gong activist by Taipei police for
distributing flyers in front of Taipei 101.
To break through China’s constant information censorship on the Falun Gong
movement, Falun Gong supporters in Taiwan often wave placards and distribute
flyers to Chinese tourists in front of the Taipei 101 building.
Interior designer Hsu Po-kun (許柏坤), however, was fined NT$300 by Wei Kuo-hsiung
(魏國雄), a police officer in Taipei’s Xinyi District, on Dec. 4 last year for
“hindering traffic” at the building.
“I wave signs peacefully and I don’t stalk or provoke [Chinese tourists]. Why
was I fined? Is Taiwan becoming the same as China, which oppresses Falun Gong?”
asked Hsu, who appealed his case to the Taipei District Court.
Taipei District Court Judge Lin Meng-huang (林孟皇) said Hsu was expressing his
opinions peacefully and rationally to Chinese tourists without hindering
traffic, adding that his right to do so is protected by the Constitution.
In the ruling, apart from rescinding the fine, Lin criticized Chinese government
censorship and urged the Taiwanese government to protect human rights.
Lin’s criticism of Chinese censorship in the verdict is unprecedented in
Taiwanese judicial history.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus secretary-general Lin Hung-chih (林鴻池)
said the District Court’s ruling was “correct” because people have the right to
voice their opinions.
“Freedom of speech is protected by the Constitution and [the police] should not
infringe upon the public’s basic human rights unless their behavior poses a
threat to public order or violates other people’s freedoms,” Lin said.
“Punishing him [Hsu] for this [protesting Chinese oppression of Falun Gong] was
excessive.”
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators accused the Taipei City Police
Department of lacking “respect for civil liberties.”
“The [police] need to understand that the public has the right to freedom of
thought and expression,” DPP Legislator Huang Sue-ying (黃淑英) said. “The police
department needs to revise its policies and stop pandering to the KMT
government.”
She called on the authorities responsible for the incident to be “re-educated”
on civil liberties, saying that Taipei City police should undergo an internal
review of how they handle such situations.
DPP Legislator Chen Chieh-ju (陳節如) also compared the handling of Hsu’s case to
criticism over how Taipei City police handled protests during a visit by China’s
Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林).
Police measures during Chen Yunlin’s visit in 2008 drew criticism from civil
liberties groups of excessive restrictions and curbing of public freedom.
“There are clear similarities between the two cases. In both cases, the police
have been too overzealous in fulfilling the government’s wishes to shut down any
perceivable opposition,” Chen Chieh-ju said. “It’s becoming ridiculous and they
need to revise their policies. I’m going to bring this up in the legislature.”
Hsu said Falun Gong is an illegal organization in China, which blocks all
information about the group. He and other practitioners often wave placards at
popular tourist spots to draw attention to China’s crackdown on the sect. He
said that he did not intend to provoke Chinese tourists.
Wei’s supervisor said the police officer gave Hsu a ticket because his unit
received a public complaint and that there were no political concerns behind the
case. The Xinyi Police District of the Taipei City Police Department said it
would study whether to file an “interlocutory appeal” after it received the
verdict.
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