Taichung Fengyuan High School student suicide case: instructor surnamed Zhang was found not guilty in the case of public insult

In 2023, a case of students committing suicide after being improperly disciplined and bullied by their teachers broke out at Fengyuan High School in Taichung City. After investigation, the bullying was confirmed to be true. Many teachers were dismissed, suspended or recorded demerits. The parents of the deceased later accused the chief instructor named Zhang of calling their son "trash" and other words. The Taichung District Court judge found that the instructor was about 20 to 30 meters away from other third parties when talking, and the main purpose was to persuade students not to violate school rules. It was difficult to identify it as a public insult, and the final verdict was not guilty.

Looking back at the case, from October 2022 to February 2023, a Fengyuan High School student was suspected of being involved in theft by school security personnel, and was successively searched and interrogated by his teacher. The parents believed that the process involved public humiliation, intimidation and improper discipline.

In addition, the parents of the deceased were dissatisfied that the instructor surnamed Zhang had used words such as "trash, scum, and dangerous person" to describe their son. They first filed a complaint of jeopardy, etc. instead of prosecution. The parents instead pursued private prosecution. During the trial, the court summoned multiple students to testify, which further clarified the conversation at that time. It was believed that although the instructor surnamed Zhang did use words such as "very dangerous" and "trash" to evaluate the victim student, judging from the context, he mainly hoped that other students would not be affected and avoid continuing to violate school rules.

"Very dangerous" is not simply derogatory. Although "garbage" has a derogatory meaning, it is not a purely insulting attack on the students themselves. More importantly, the instructor was talking to the students about 20 to 30 meters away from other third persons. No one else heard the incident, so the scope of the impact was limited. It was difficult to recognize that it was a blatant insult. The instructor surnamed Zhang was found not guilty. The whole case can still be appealed.