High Court Finds Sunflower Defendants Innocent|太陽花占立院案 黃國昌等22人二審仍無罪

Twenty-two people were indicted in the aftermath of the Sunflower Student Movement including current Legislator Huang Kuo-chang . The protestors had occupied the Legislative Yuan. They were found innocent in the first trial, and the ruling was appealed. On Mar. 13, the High Court upheld the ruling, citing constitutional law and freedom of speech. On Mar. 18, 2014, people opposed to the signing of a cross-strait trade agreement gathered outside the Legislative Yuan to protest. This was the start of the Sunflower Student Movement. Over the next month, the group first occupied the Legislative Yuan and then vandalized the Executive Yuan. Afterwards, 22 people including current lawmaker Huang Kuo-chang and movement leaders Lin Fei-fan and Chen Wei-ting were indicted on multiple charges. Citing civic disobedience theory, the Taipei District Court found all of them innocent. The case was appealed to the High Court, which upheld the ruling on the 13th. On that day, they simply wanted to express their political demands. The protestors only wanted to see if they could get into the Legislative Yuan as a reflection of public sentiment. The High Court feels this form of protest should be protected by freedom of speech. The High Court said there were flaws in the Legislative Yuan's agenda at the time and the protestors had the right to express their opinions. The court said even though they had physical altercations with police, they did not initiate any attacks against police and are therefore innocent. After the ruling was announced, Huang blamed the cross-strait trade agreement for everything, saying the agreement trampled on democracy. [Everyone involved in the] 318 movement, the Sunflower Student Movement is innocent. The ones that are guilty are the Ma administration and Chang Ching-chung. Chang violated the constitution and the law by forcibly regarding the cross-strait trade agreement as passed. Chen, meanwhile, gave China a warning. I'm warning you, Xi Jinping. I'm warning you, Communist Party of China. Don't underestimate Taiwan. We are here today. If you want to take action against us in the future, the people of Taiwan will again rise to the occasion. The case involving the protestors breaking into and occupying the Executive Yuan on Mar. 23 and 24 that year is still pending.