TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Bunun tribe member Tama Talum has successfully appealed a conviction for violating Taiwan's gun laws, with the Supreme Court ruling on Thursday (March 14) that he was innocent.
In 2021, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) issued a pardon to Tama following Article 40 of the Constitution and Article 3 of the Amnesty Act, but the crime remained on his record. The Supreme Court took up Tama's case again in 2022, and on Thursday, the court overturned his guilty verdict.
Tama's lawyer expressed hope that the relevant laws will be amended. When Tama received the news of the verdict at his home, he expressed his happiness and gratitude to his supporters, lawyers, judges, and friends who helped him bring the case to a conclusion.
Tama's mother was infected with COVID-19 in June 2022 and passed away at age 100. After Tama learned that the verdict was changed, he reportedly walked into his living room, looked at the photo of his mother, children, and grandchildren, and said, "I am not guilty anymore."
His attorney Lo Hui-hsin (羅惠馨) said in a media interview that the Supreme Court decision is a milestone that means hunters in the future need not worry while hunting. However, Lo said hunting-related laws still need to be amended by legislative and administrative agencies, and relying on judicial remedies is not sufficient.
In 2013, Tama, also known by his Chinese name Wang Guang-lu (王光祿), was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for violating the Controlling Guns, Knives and Ammunition Act (槍砲彈藥刀械管制條例) and the Wildlife Conservation Act when he shot a Formosan serow and a Reeves' muntjac with a modified shotgun. He maintained his innocence, arguing that he had the right to practice traditional Bunun customs under the Indigenous Peoples Basic Act (原住民族基本法) and that he had killed the animals to provide food for his mother, who was ill at the time.
The Supreme Court rejected his appeal on Nov. 3, 2015. In 2017, he was granted an extraordinary appeal to have the case taken up by the Constitutional Court.
However, in May 2021, the court issued a mixed ruling — Interpretation No. 803 — which stated that the Controlling Guns, Knives and Ammunition Act and Wildlife Conservation Acts are constitutional in some aspects and unconstitutional in others. The court ruled that the Controlling Guns, Knives, and Ammunition Act's requirement that Indigenous people use "self-made" guns is constitutional, while regulations listing the specifications of such weapons are insufficient.
It deemed the Wildlife Conservation Act's regulation that Indigenous people should apply for permission in advance before hunting to be constitutional. However, it found that rules requiring Indigenous people to apply at least five days ahead of "non-regular" hunts and to itemize the number and species of animals they intended to cull breached the Constitution's principle of proportionality.
In its ruling, the court also mentioned Article 10 of the Additional Articles of the Constitution, which dictated that the government must "guarantee and provide assistance and encouragement" for many facets of Indigenous life and traditional culture.
Later that month, Tsai issued Tama a pardon, but his illegal-hunting conviction remained on the books. Therefore, Tama that year filed for an extraordinary appeal with the Supreme Court but was rejected.
However, in 2022, the Supreme Court accepted his request for an extraordinary appeal. After a two-year appeal process, the Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that he was not guilty.
