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Dismissal of lawsuits over Sunflower assaults blasted
ANGRY: Activists criticized the High Court for viewing several lawsuits over police violence during the March protests as being the same when it threw out the cases
By Lii Wen / Staff reporter
Supporters of the Judicial Reform Foundation and allied groups in Taipei yesterday petition the Supreme Court to rescind the High Court’s decision not to accept private lawsuits over the forceful removal of protesters from the Executive Yuan on March 24.
Photo: Chen Wei-tsu, Taipei Times
A coalition of activist groups yesterday criticized the Taiwan High Court’s decision to reject several lawsuits filed by protesters who were violently evicted from the Executive Yuan on March 24, in which several high-ranking officials were accused of attempted murder over “rampant acts of police brutality.”
Among those accused of attempted murder are President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), former premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺), National Police Agency Director-General Wang Cho-chiun (王卓鈞), as well as unnamed police officers.
Although eight people have filed lawsuits since April in a bid to hold officials accountable for the eviction, the court has already rejected two of the cases on the grounds that they are “similar” to the first case, while the remaining five cases are still under review.
Led by attorney Wellington Koo (顧立雄) and the Judicial Reform Foundation, a coalition of more than 20 activist groups accused the judiciary of “protecting state violence” and “trampling on human rights.”
The protests at the Executive Yuan were part of the Sunflower movement, in which student-led protesters occupied the Legislative Yuan’s main chamber for almost 23 days in protest against the government’s handling of the cross-strait service trade agreement.
On the night of March 23, about a week into the protest, mounting dissatisfaction over the lack of an official response to the movement led students to force their way past barricades to stage a sit-in at the Executive Yuan.
A crackdown ensued in the early morning of March 24, after Jiang ordered police to clear the protesters by dawn, resulting in scores of protesters being injured by police armed with batons, shields and water cannons.
Although critics condemned the government for its use of violence in what was later described as a “bloody” eviction, Jiang defended his actions as legitimate and dismissed media reports as being “biased” and “distorted.”
The first protester to file a lawsuit against the government over the incident was a 76-year-old man surnamed Chou (周), who said he suffered fractured ribs and abdominal hemorrhage after being attacked by police with a shield and later blasted by water cannons.
Further lawsuits filed by dentist Wang Hsin-kai (王心愷) — who suffered seizures as he lay on the ground after he was hit on the head by a police officer — and Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator Chou Ni-an (周倪安) — who also suffered injuries — were rejected by the court.
Activists said that the court has no right to “magically” merge different cases into one, and vowed to overturn the ruling by filing an appeal with the Supreme Court.
source: Taipei Times
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