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Women appeal ruling in police brutality
case
By Shih Hsiu-chuan / Staff Reporter
Three women who claim to have been victimized by police during a protest against
a Chinese envoy in November 2008 yesterday vowed to take their lawsuit against
police officers to the Supreme Court.
“It’s ridiculous. When judges are ignorant of the law, I don’t know what we can
expect. How horrible it is for our laws to become invalid when a guest visits
from an ‘upper state,’” a woman going by the nickname Coffeeshop told reporters
after the court ruling.
The visitor from an “upper state” was Association for Relations Across the
Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林), who was making his first
appearance on Taiwanese soil for talks with Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman
Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤).
On Nov. 3, 2008, the day of Chen’s arrival, the three women participated in a
street skit — timed to coincide with the Chen motorcade, which was on its way to
the Grand Hotel — in front of the Taipei Art Museum on Zhongshan N Road to
highlight human rights issues in China.
As they walked past the Taiwan Cement Building, one woman, nicknamed Nakao, wore
a Tibetan National Flag over her shoulder, while Coffeeshop and another woman
nicknamed Hsiao-hsun (小薰) held a Republic of China flag and UN flag in their
hands. They were stopped by police.
Failing to make their way through a ring of police led by Yang Chung-te (楊崇德),
then the chief of Neihu Police District, the three women were forced into a
police car and taken to a police station, where they were detained for the
entire afternoon. In the process, Nakao suffered a dislocated finger as police
tried to pry the Tibetan flag from her grasp and later underwent surgery to
repair the damage.
With the assistance of the Judicial Reform Foundation, the three women sued Yang
and six other officers for assault, robbery and offenses against personal
liberty.
In the first trial, a district court ruled that police had the -privilege to
restrict their freedom of -movement and take away flags because the officers
were performing their duties according to the law.
The Taiwan High Court upheld the ruling yesterday.
“It’s been two years. We still haven’t been told by the judges under which law
the police were allowed to take us away and keep us in detention,” Coffeeshop
said. “We were told it was the Police Duties Enforcement Act [警察職權行使法], but the
problem is, while police were enforcing the law, their behavior was in violation
of the act.”
The fact that they were walking along the road did not meet any of the
conditions stipulated in the act under which police could stop, question and
take them away, Coffeeshop said.
“We will continue to appeal. It is our wish that the courts would ensure that a
minimum of fairness and justice are delivered. There is no reason people should
be treated like this just because they waved a flag representing Tibet,” she
said.
That incident was one of four cases of alleged police brutality during Chen’s
visit.
In another case, a district court in a first trial acquitted police accused by
several women of pushing them against a wall and beating them with batons during
a demonstration at the Grand Formosa Regent Hotel.
The plaintiffs have not appealed the case.
In the case of Chen Yu-chin (陳育青), who filed a lawsuit against police who
arrested her and sent her to a police station for interrogation after she filmed
video footage outside the Grand Hotel, courts ruled in favor of police in a
first and second trial.
She has appealed to the Supreme Court.
In the last case, Ted Chiang (江一德), then a graduate student at National Taiwan
University, was grabbed and beaten by unnamed officers during a demonstration.
Although a court acquitted the officers, the Taipei High Administrative Court
ruled that he was eligible for NT$300,000 in compensation from the Taipei City
Government
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