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進入《TAIPEI TIMES》 HK bookstore owner blasts ‘lenient’ ruling
Lam Wing-kei, former co-owner of Causeway Bay Books in Hong Kong, stands near pro-freedom banners in a room in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Chen Yu-hsun, Taipei Times
By Jason Pan / Staff reporter
Lam Wing-kei （林榮基）, a former co-owner of Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay Books （銅鑼灣書店）, yesterday condemned Taiwan’s judiciary for giving leniency to three men who splashed him with paint in April.
The Taipei District Court sentenced the trio’s leader Cheng Chi-lung （鄭啟龍）, 51, to four months in prison, and his accomplices brothers Tseng Shih-cheng （曾士晟）, 33, and Tseng Shih-feng （曾士峰）, 27, to three months in jail each. The sentences can be commuted to fines.
They were convicted for assault, public insult, causing bodily harm and intimidation as charged. The ruling can be appealed.
“This ruling is useless, it is too lenient. Taiwan’s laws need to be fixed, as there is no protection for the victims,” Lam said following the ruling.
“This is a very serious problem. The offenders have ‘red communist forces’ behind them, have political motives to create social chaos. But the court still handled it like a regular assault case,” he added.
Lam also pointed to Hong Kong entertainer-activist Denise Ho （何韻詩） who was doused with red paint when she attended a pro-democracy rally in Taipei last year, along with a chicken-feces attack last month on the Aegis （保護傘） restaurant in Taipei, which provides support and employment to exiled Hong Kong advocates and students staying in Taiwan.
“For myself, Denise Ho, Aegis restaurant, what do we have to do with the perpetrators in these incidents? These perpetrators most likely were paid and instructed to carry out the attack,” Lam said.
The authorities have arrested and brought charges against four Taiwanese men over the Aegis restaurant incident.
The assailants in that case said a Chinese man allegedly wired them NT$30,000 from China to vandalize the premise with chicken feces, to force it to shut down.
“I read the reports on the perpetrators receiving NT$30,000 as payment, but I believe they were paid much more money under the table, probably at several tens of thousands of New Taiwan dollars, and they would only serve a few months, then the can walk out free,” Lam said. “When they get out of prison, they can commit such crimes again. So we can expect more of these attacks in the future.”
The punishment should be at least six months in jail, Lam said.
“The perpetrators planned and carried out the attack, thereby they must face the consequences. However, the court gives them leniency [and allows them] to just pay money to offset their crime,” Lam added.
“How can such a thing happen in Taiwan, which is a society with freedom and democracy?” he asked. “If the perpetrators can just pay money to offset their crime, can Taiwan still have public safety?”
The court said the defendants did not respect Lam’s private political views and his held different values when they splashed paint on him, adding that besides causing bodily harm, they also violated Lam’s freedom and dignity.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
