Court rules in Tsai Ing-wen's favor over degree legitimacy case

Taipei, May 27 (CNA) The Taiwan High Court on Tuesday upheld a lower court's decision that ruled in favor of former President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) regarding the legitimacy of her doctoral degree.

The issue surrounding the former president's academic credentials was first raised by former political talk show host Dennis Peng (彭文正) in a Facebook post in June 2019, when Tsai was seeking re-election.

Peng has repeatedly accused Tsai of never completing her doctoral dissertation to get a doctoral degree in law from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 1984.

He subsequently filed a declaratory action charging that Tsai's dissertation does not exist.

However, the Taipei District Court later dismissed the case, saying it did not comply with the Code of Civil Procedure.

Following an appeal, the high court remanded the case back to the district court, saying that the latter failed to fulfill its obligation to provide sufficient explanation without conducting an oral hearing.

In a December 2022 retrial, the district court ruled that Tsai did receive a doctoral degree in law from the LSE after examining the evidence presented by her lawyers.

A second appeal was later filed by Peng.

On Tuesday, the high court said it found no flaws in the district court's retrial, thereby rejecting Peng's appeal.

However, the ruling can still be appealed.

Meanwhile, the former political talk show host has been indicted by the Taipei District Prosecutors Office for libeling Tsai.

In November 2022, the Taipei District Court issued a warrant for Peng's arrest after he failed to appear in court despite being subpoenaed earlier that year.

The court determined Peng to be a flight risk only to later discover that he was in the United States. As a result, it issued an arrest warrant pursuant to Article 84 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.