324 State Violence: Taipei City Government Must Face Its Mistakes and Bear Compensation Liability - State Compensation Lawsuit Filing Press Conference

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

Police officers employed brutal tactics to disperse peaceful assembly participants at the scene of the 324 incident, which was a clear violation of 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 exercised excessive enforcement—and the Taipei City Government—which failed in its supervisory duties—bear state compensation liability, while hoping the judicial authorities will render 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 dispersal incident. 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 outright refused 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, regarding the "March 24 Executive Yuan Violent Dispersal Incident," the Taipei District Court Administrative Court already ruled on August 7 of last year (2015) that the Taipei City Government must bear liability for compensating 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 dispersal 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 dispersal 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. Li (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 dragged away brutally by police officers that night, but was also indicted by a prosecutor on February 10, 2015, becoming a defendant in the Executive Yuan 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 for 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 Pro Bono Legal Team against the Black-Box Cross-Strait Trade Agreement / Attorney Yu Po-hsiang

Press Contact

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