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Summary of article:
Wei Nan was dissatisfied with police involvement in neighborhood disputes and personal information inquiries. After the prosecution failed, they tried the other side with banners, signs and Facebook fans. The Northern Court found that his behavior exceeded freedom of speech and sentenced him to six months in prison and a fine.
A man named Wei was dissatisfied with a police officer named Zhang intervening in a parking dispute between him and his neighbor. He accused Zhang of personally investigating his personal information and launched a “public trial” at his residence and online. They not only hung banners and put up signs featuring human figures in uniform, but they also set up a Facebook fan page to insult “useless spies” and “bad people” and threatened to sue the other party for compensation. The Taipei District Court found that Wei knew that Zhang was not involved in any criminal offense, but used Zhang’s personal information to spread defamatory and libelous comments, and sentenced him to a six-month fine in accordance with the Personal Data Protection Act.
The verdict stated that Wei had a neighborhood dispute with his neighbor and his wife, surnamed Chen. In April 2024, a woman surnamed Chen was harassed by Wei by posting flyers, but failed to report to the district chief, and turned to Zhang (currently working at the Zhongshan branch), who served at the Taipei City Police Wanhua branch, for help. Zhang Yan decided that Wei’s behavior involved nuisance under the pretext of the Social Order Maintenance Law, checked the relevant personal information through the police system, and summoned Wei to the branch to make a transcript.
Wei questioned whether neighborhood disputes should be handled by police stations within the jurisdiction, accused Zhang of interfering in districts, privately investigating personal information, and filed a complaint with the prosecutor for publishing false and accurate documents for civil servants, intimidation, serious defamation, and violating personal information laws. The prosecutor completed the investigation in January 2025 and determined that Zhang’s personal information was investigated to investigate a social security case. It was difficult to determine that this was illegal and the punishment would not be a prosecution.
Wei was unwilling to bow down. Since February last year, he has hung banners outside his residence and warehouse in Wanhua, “Knowing the law and breaking the law, Wanhua Branch Investigation Team, I am the best in public trials.” He also erected a half-length human figure in uniform and a photo sticker, which is still there for passersby to see. He also set up a Facebook fan page named “Zhang 00, who knows the law and breaks the law”, and made intense posts to insult the other party, leading to a public prosecution.
The prosecutor believes that although the Constitution guarantees freedom of expression, Wei ignored the prosecutor’s non-prosecution and misused Zhang’s appearance and other personal information to insult and blatantly defame Zhang.
During the trial in the Taipei District Court, Wei admitted to posting the notices and setting up a fan page, but denied committing any crimes. He argued that police officer Zhang was given a demerit by the Wanhua branch, but the prosecutor did not prosecute him. He merely stated the status quo and believed that there was no justice in the administration of justice.
The Northern Court held that if Wei was dissatisfied with the prosecutor’s decision not to prosecute, he should ask for reconsideration. He couldn’t just extract the records of Zhang’s administrative punishment and then accuse the other party of illegally investigating personal information. Police administrative punishment is different from the determination of criminal responsibility. The decontextualization of Wei’s conviction record was inconsistent with the objective facts.
The Collegial Panel believed that allowing people to publicly interrogate others by hanging banners or putting up signs would be tantamount to encouraging people to use private remedies to resolve disputes, which is not permitted in a society governed by the rule of law, and would result in punishment based on more severe personal information laws.
Summary FAQ
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Wei Nan was dissatisfied with the intervention of a police officer surnamed Zhang due to a neighborhood parking dispute, and questioned the police officer’s cross-district private information investigation. He then filed a suit against the public servant for publishing false information, intimidation, gross defamation and breach of personal information laws.
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He hung criticism banners outside his residence, put up signboards and photo stickers of human figures in uniform, and set up a Facebook fan page to post insults, spreading the opponent’s personal information and comments to influence the public trial and humiliate him.
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The court held that the prosecutor had not prosecuted the police officer surnamed Zhang, but Wei Nan had made administrative records irrelevant and continued to spread false allegations, causing serious damage to his reputation. Therefore, he was sentenced to six months in jail and a fine as per the Personal Information Act and other offences.
