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Chen Yunlin Protest Case

In November 2008, police cracked down on protests during the visit of Chinese envoy Chen Yunlin. JRF and other groups took officers to court, backed the Wild Strawberries Movement and pressed for reform of the Assembly and Parade Act. This page records what happened, the cases that followed and JRF's statements.

Background

From 3 to 7 November 2008, Chen Yunlin, Chairman of China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), visited Taiwan for a second round of talks with Chiang Pin-kung, Chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation. He was the first ARATS chairman to visit Taiwan since the two sides resumed formal negotiations.

Citing the envoy’s safety, the national security and police agencies imposed controls on a scale Taiwan had not seen before. They cleared expressways, banned people from displaying the Republic of China flag or the Tibetan Snow Lion flag in public, walked into shops to turn off music, snatched flags, hauled away people who were filming, and pushed and beat peaceful protesters with shields and batons. Repeated clashes left people injured. On 6 November university students began a sit-in outside the Executive Yuan; after police removed them, they moved to Liberty Square and launched the Wild Strawberries Movement.

JRF answered with legal action. On 5 November, together with the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, Taiwan Labour Front, the Humanistic Education Foundation, Green Party Taiwan, the Taipei Bar Association and others, it filed a criminal complaint against Beitou Precinct Chief Lee Han-ching. On 20 November the groups set up the Legal Team Against Police Brutality, more than 20 lawyers who helped victims bring private prosecutions, complaints and reports to prosecutors.

The events came as Taiwan was preparing to make the two UN human rights covenants part of its domestic law, and they put the government’s human rights commitments to a practical test. They are closely tied to the Wild Strawberries Movement and to the later campaign to reform the Assembly and Parade Act.

Timeline

  1. Snow Lion flag seized on Zhongshan North Road

    Three people handing out leaflets for free speech along Zhongshan North Road were surrounded by a line of police, held by the arms and had their Snow Lion flag taken from them. They were then held at a police security unit without legal grounds. One of them was injured.

  2. Police search Sunrise Records without a warrant

    While in charge of security for a dinner between Chen Yunlin and Lien Chan at the Ambassador Hotel, Beitou Precinct Chief Lee Han-ching entered Sunrise Records on Zhongshan North Road without a search warrant, searched its sound system, ordered the music turned off and had officers force the shop to pull down its shutter. JRF considered this unlawful search, coercion and malfeasance under the Criminal Code.

  3. Filmmaker forced into a police car outside the Grand Hotel

    Ms. Chen, a documentary filmmaker, was filming outside the Grand Hotel after Chen Yunlin had already left. Police stopped her and demanded identification. When she refused, they pinned her against the trunk of a police car, pushed her inside, and four officers carried her into the station by her arms and legs. She was left with bruises and abrasions.

  4. Two women pinned to a wall near the Regent Taipei

    Ms. Huang and Ms. Tseng were sitting and talking in an arcade across from a side entrance of the Regent Taipei when police pushed and jabbed them with shields and batons and held them against a wall for more than two minutes. Their injuries included a broken finger and a head contusion.

  5. Joint statement by civil society groups

    The Taiwan Association for Human Rights, JRF and Amnesty International Taiwan issued a statement, endorsed by many other groups, demanding an apology from President Ma Ying-jeou, the resignation of National Police Agency Director-General Wang Cho-chun and National Security Bureau Director-General Tsai Chao-ming, amendment of the Assembly and Parade Act, and a pro bono human rights legal team.

  6. First legal action: complaint against Lee Han-ching

    At 4 p.m., JRF Executive Director Lin Feng-cheng, joined by the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, Taiwan Labour Front, the Humanistic Education Foundation and Green Party Taiwan, filed a complaint at the Taipei District Prosecutors Office accusing Lee of unlawful search, coercion and malfeasance.

  7. Student beaten outside the Regent Taipei

    Chiang, a National Taiwan University graduate student watching a spontaneous protest, was pushed and struck with batons and shields by police and alternative service conscripts, then kicked after he fell. He suffered a scalp laceration and other cuts and bruises.

  8. Students begin a sit-in at the Executive Yuan

    University students gathered outside the main gate of the Executive Yuan to protest police cordons and the unlawful use of force.

  9. Police remove the sit-in

    Police forcibly removed the students in the evening. They moved to Liberty Square and continued their sit-in.

  10. The Wild Strawberries Movement takes shape

    At Liberty Square the students set out three demands: an apology from President Ma Ying-jeou and Premier Liu Chao-shiuan, the resignation of Tsai Chao-ming and Wang Cho-chun, and amendment of the Assembly and Parade Act. Students in Hsinchu, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung followed.

  11. Nightly silent walk in support

    Fifteen groups, including the Alliance to Reform the Bad Assembly and Parade Law, walked silently around Liberty Square every evening from 6 to 7 p.m. under the slogan “Support the Wild Strawberries, protect Taiwan.”

  12. Lawyers’ and scholars’ groups issue six demands

    The Taiwan Law Society, JRF, the Taiwan Bar Association and the Taipei Bar Association called for, among other things, replacing the permit system with notification, abolishing the criminal penalties specific to the Assembly and Parade Act, and reviewing whether restricted zones are needed at all.

  13. Second legal action: the Legal Team Against Police Brutality

    The Taipei Bar Association and JRF formed a team of more than 20 volunteer lawyers. At a press conference outside Liberty Square, titled “President Ma, Stop Turning a Blind Eye! The Problem Is Not Just Violence but Violent Police,” the team named Songshan Precinct Chief Huang Jia-lu and several Zhongshan Precinct officers as defendants and announced five cases.

  14. Legislature ratifies the two covenants

    The Legislative Yuan approved the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and passed the act implementing them. At the same time, the government’s draft amendments to the Assembly and Parade Act and the handling of the Sunrise Records case showed how far its practice fell short of those commitments.

  15. Prosecutors decline to indict Lee Han-ching

    After more than five months, the Taipei District Prosecutors Office decided not to prosecute Lee and others. Amnesty International, FIDH and Freedom House had criticized the November policing as falling short of international human rights standards, yet the victims still could not obtain redress through the courts.

  16. “I Accuse: The Police State”

    The Alliance to Reform the Bad Assembly and Parade Law, formed by JRF, the Taiwan Association for Human Rights and others, gathered with victims outside the Taipei District Court in support of the Sunrise Records case, then marched to the Ministry of Justice to deliver a petition asking it to reconsider draft amendments to the Act that conflicted with the covenants.

What civil society demanded

In November 2008, JRF, the Taiwan Association for Human Rights and Amnesty International Taiwan, later joined by the Taiwan Law Society and the bar associations, called for:

  1. A public apology from President Ma Ying-jeou for giving up thirty years of progress on human rights and the rule of law to accommodate an authoritarian state.
  2. The resignation of Wang Cho-chun and Tsai Chao-ming, the heads of the National Police Agency and the National Security Bureau, for policing that repeatedly went beyond the limits of police duties and the principle of proportionality.
  3. Amendment of the Assembly and Parade Act: a notification system, or notification as the rule and permits as the exception; administrative penalties in place of the Act’s special criminal penalties; and a review of restricted zones.
  4. Accountability for officers who abused their powers, with the Control Yuan, the Ministry of Justice and other agencies investigating at once and publishing the results.
  5. Protection for students’ freedom of expression: schools and education authorities must not pressure, threaten, harass or punish students taking part in peaceful sit-ins, and police must not use force simply because no permit was sought.
  6. A pro bono human rights legal team to take reports of abuses and build a collective legal case against the state. This became the Legal Team Against Police Brutality.

The five cases

The Legal Team Against Police Brutality announced these cases at its press conference on 20 November 2008.

  1. Case 1Report to prosecutors

    Sunrise Records

    On the evening of 4 November, Beitou Precinct Chief Lee Han-ching, in charge of security for the Chen Yunlin–Lien Chan dinner at the Ambassador Hotel, entered Sunrise Records at the corner of Zhongshan North Road and Minsheng East Road without a search warrant. He searched the shop’s sound equipment, ordered the music stopped and had officers use force and threats to make the shop pull down its shutter.

  2. Case 2Private prosecution

    Ms. Huang and Ms. Tseng

    On the evening of 5 November, the two women were sitting and talking in an arcade across from a side entrance of the Regent Taipei. Police cordoned off the exits around No. 45, Section 2, Zhongshan North Road, then pushed and jabbed them with shields and batons and pinned them against a wall for more than two minutes, breaking a finger and causing a head contusion and abrasions.

  3. Case 3Private prosecution

    Chiang, graduate student at National Taiwan University

    On 6 November, while watching a spontaneous protest outside the Regent Taipei, he was pushed and struck with batons and shields by police and alternative service conscripts, and kicked after he fell. He suffered a scalp laceration, abrasions to his left knee, left ankle and right shoulder, and bruising to his right arm.

  4. Case 4Complaint by the victim

    Ms. Chen, documentary filmmaker

    At about 11 a.m. on 4 November, after Chen Yunlin had already left the Grand Hotel, police stopped her from filming outside the main building and demanded identification. When she refused, officers surrounded her, pushed her to a police car, pinned her against the trunk and forced her inside. At the Yuanshan police station of the Zhongshan Precinct, four officers carried her in by her arms and legs, leaving her with bruises and abrasions.

  5. Case 5Private prosecution

    Three internet users

    On 3 November, while handing out leaflets for free speech along Zhongshan North Road, they were surrounded by police and held by the arms. Police seized their Snow Lion flag, claiming that carrying it broke the rules, injured one of them and held all three at a police security unit without legal grounds.

Besides Lee Han-ching, the defendants included Songshan Precinct Chief Huang Jia-lu and several Zhongshan Precinct officers. The groups did not rule out a third round of lawsuits as more cases came in.

JRF statements and press releases

Further reading

13Nov.
2008

Cyber Student Movements and Detention to Extort Confessions

Lin Feng-cheng, Executive Director, Judicial Reform Foundation

Starting November 6, in protest of the police isolating crowds and unlawfully applying coercive force during the visit…