Premier Lin drops charges against sunflower protesters

2016/05/25

The occupation of the Executive Yuan—Taiwan’s highest administrative organ—in March 2014 by sunflower movement protesters was by nature a political event rather than a legal matter, and should be dealt with in a lenient, peaceful and less confrontational manner, according to Premier Lin Chuan May 23.

The 10-hour occupation of the Executive Yuan took place under the banner of the sunflower movement, which seized the Legislative Yuan—Taiwan’s highest lawmaking body—from March 18 to April 10, 2014. The movement’s members were protesting against the fast-tracked committee review March 17, 2014, of the Cross-Strait Services Trade Agreement and demanded legislators oversee any agreements signed between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. The pact had been before the Legislative Yuan since June 2013.

“The protesters’ cause later became a consensus in society that we needed an act monitoring the signing of cross-strait agreements,” Lin said. “The act is now before the Legislative Yuan, underscoring the significance and legitimacy of the protesters’ actions, as well as their contribution to the development of Taiwan society.”

Lin, who assumed office May 20 to head the executive branch of the President Tsai Ing-wen administration, made the remarks following the Cabinet’s decision May 20 to drop charges under Article 306 of the nation’s Criminal Code against the 126 protesters.

The premier said the former Cabinet’s legal action against the protesters in February 2015 was swayed by political considerations.

An end was brought to the 24-day occupation of the Legislative Yuan by the body’s former President and current Legislator-at-Large Wang Jin-pyng of the opposition Kuomintang, who promised not to convene interparty negotiations on the pact before passage of legislation governing the monitoring of cross-strait agreements.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=244991&ctNode=2194&mp=9)