March 24 State Violence: Taipei City Government Must Face Its Mistakes and Pay Compensation ~ Press Conference on Filing the State Compensation Lawsuit

Today marks two full years since the March 24 violent clearance of the Executive Yuan, yet the truth remains obscured and accountability elusive.

Police officers used brutal tactics to clear peaceful assembly participants during the March 24 incident, clearly violating the principle of proportionality. On this second anniversary of the incident, the pro bono legal team has filed a State compensation lawsuit with the court, demanding that the Taipei City Police Department—which used excessive force—and the Taipei City Government—which failed in its supervisory duties—bear State compensation liability, and hoping the judiciary will deliver a fair and just judgment for the injured victims.

Furthermore, because the Taipei City Government serves as the competent authority for the Taipei City Police Department, and failed to fulfill its supervisory responsibility regarding the excessive enforcement by its subordinate officers, it should naturally be held accountable for this violent clearance. Over the past two years, private prosecution cases have made no progress due to the police department's continuous prevarication in responding to court inquiries for officer identification data, and the Taipei City Police Department has even flatly rejected the State compensation settlement proposed by the citizens. Regarding Mayor Ko Wen-je and the Taipei City Police Department's attitude of turning a blind eye to state violence and refusing to hold anyone accountable, both the pro bono legal team and the plaintiffs feel deeply distressed.

In fact, in the "March 24 Executive Yuan Violent Clearance Case," the Administrative Litigation Division of the Taipei District Court ruled on August 7 of last year (2015) that the Taipei City Government must compensate teacher Lin Ming-hui, who was beaten and injured by police officers. This case became final because Mayor Ko Wen-je decided not to appeal. This judgment also remains the sole winning case for citizens accusing state violence since the 324 incident occurred.

In the reasoning of this judgment, the judge explicitly pointed out that the police's clearance methods severely violated the principle of proportionality and that they should bear compensation liability. However, regarding the other 30 injured citizens who also requested compensation, the Taipei City Police Department directly refused settlement based on reasons such as the illegality of the assembly. As the competent authority of the police department, the Taipei City Government also failed to respond within the statutory period to the citizens' requests for settlement, completely ignoring the court judgment's determination that even illegal assemblies, as long as they are peaceful, warrant the greatest degree of tolerance and protection from the state, and that police equipment should not be arbitrarily used to attack crowds engaged in peaceful assembly. Additionally, the court criticized in its judgment that officers concealed their identification markings while on duty, leaving the public unable to verify the true identity of the officers or hold the violent officers accountable afterward.

The three plaintiffs participating in today's press conference were all subjected to brutal clearance by the police during this incident. Among them, Mr. Li did not enter the Executive Yuan compound and even helped maintain order at the scene to prevent clashes between police and the crowd, yet he was dragged and attacked in the chest by police officers; Mr. Liao was dragged into a police formation and beaten with police equipment, fists, and feet, and even heavily slammed down, and when he tried to rest, he was again punched and kicked by nearby officers; Mr. Wu was not only brutally dragged away by police officers that night, but was also indicted by a prosecutor on February 10, 2015, becoming a defendant in the Executive Yuan Occupation Case.

Over the past two years, we have not seen any institution actively investigate the truth or review its faults, let alone any signs of holding state violence accountable. Therefore, today, besides submitting the complaint in the State compensation lawsuit to the court, the pro bono legal team and the plaintiffs call upon Mayor Ko Wen-je and the Taipei City Police Department to:

1. Bear State compensation liability.
2. Promptly investigate and disclose the identities of the "unidentified officers."
3. Implement an identification system for duty officers.

Attendees

Plaintiffs / Mr. Li, Mr. Liao, Mr. Wu
Convener of the 318 Anti-Black Box Service Trade Agreement Pro Bono Lawyer Team / Attorney Yu Po-hsiang

Press Contact

Deputy Executive Director of the Judicial Reform Foundation / Attorney Chen Yu-fan