Taiwan's democratisation took a leap forward yesterday with a landmark ruling that restrictions on the promotion of communism and separatism were unconstitutional.
The Council of Grand Justices, which rules on the constitutionality of laws, said parts of the 1988 Assembly and Parades Law violated freedom of speech guarantees in the constitution.
The restrictions were immediately nullified.
The constitution was drafted by the National Assembly at Nanjing in 1947, two years before the mainland was overrun by communist forces.
The law was passed by the Legislative Yuan after then-president Chiang Ching-kuo moved to lift martial law the year before.
Before 1987, advocates of communism and Taiwan independence were jailed by military courts on charges of sedition or being 'communist bandit spies'.
