DPP lawmaker indicted for damaging public property

Taipei, Sept. 9 (CNA) The Taipei District Prosecutors Office on Wednesday indicted ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱) for cutting steel cables that secured a police guardrail during a rally in December 2024.

Chung, along with an individual surnamed Huang (黃), was charged with damaging property entrusted to public officials for official duties.

Prosecutors said the guardrail was one of several set up by the police to maintain order during a rally held outside the Legislative Yuan on Dec. 20, 2024 to protest votes on three controversial legislative amendments that day.

The Taipei City Police Department's Zhongzheng First Precinct set up the guardrails along the sidewalk on the north side of Jinan Road and secured them using steel cables.

Chung and Huang broke two of the cables, rendering them unusable, prosecutors said.

Chung admitted cutting the cables but denied criminal liability, claiming he removed the guardrail to allow an ambulance to reach people who had been injured.

The lawmaker's lawyer argued that Chung had no criminal intent and was exercising his right of resistance to prevent what the lawyer described as the tyranny of the opposition majority in passing bad legislation, which constituted an expression of political opinion.

Prosecutors rejected both Chung's and the lawyer's argument.

They said several lawmakers injured in clashes that day did not suffer serious or life-threatening injuries, and doctors were also present at the scene to provide treatment.

At the same time, DPP lawmakers Lin Chu-yin (林楚茵) and Chen Pei-yu (陳培瑜) had already been taken to the hospital without any difficulties in arranging emergency assistance, they said.

Prosecutors contended that there was no evidence showing that anyone's life, physical safety, freedom or property faced imminent or continuing harm at the time, and Chung and Huang could not argue that cutting the cables was necessary to prevent an emergency.

They also said the constitutional protection of freedom of speech is not unlimited.

While the right of resistance may involve the use of illegal measures, it can only be exercised in "extremely serious illegal situations" as a last resort, and the actions of Chung and Huang did not meet that threshold, prosecutors argued.

In response, Chung said he had cooperated fully with the investigation and respected the judicial process.