Statement on the Executive Yuan's Announcement to Withdraw Charges Against the 126 Individuals Who Entered the Executive Yuan During the March 23 and 24 Incidents

Photo by Alysa Chiu

Regarding the Executive Yuan's announcement to withdraw charges against the 126 individuals who entered the Executive Yuan between the night of March 23 and the early morning of March 24, 2014, the Volunteer Lawyers Group Against the Cross-Strait Trade Agreement issues the following statement:

1. We affirm the Executive Yuan's decision to withdraw the charges.
2. The Executive Yuan must immediately investigate and disclose the truth regarding the police's excessive use of force and injury to citizens during the night of March 23 to the early morning of March 24, 2014.
   • The Executive Yuan should establish an independent and objective investigative mechanism, rather than relying on an internal investigation by the police system.
   • The scope of the investigation must not only identify the police officers who committed acts of violence, but also expose the top-down chain of command for the operation.
   • The aforementioned investigative report should be proactively made public. In addition to being used for judicial trials, it should be compiled into a report and submitted to the international review committee for the Second State Reports on the Two Covenants as supplementary comments.
3. Now that Premier Lin Ch'üan has publicly stated that the Sunflower Student Movement was a political event rather than a purely legal matter, we call upon prosecutors to withdraw indictments in cases arising from opposition to the black-box Cross-Strait Trade Agreement.

Press Contact

Kao Jung-chih, Executive Director, Judicial Reform Foundation 02-2523-1178