Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Central Committee member Sean Lien (連勝文) yesterday challenged prosecutors’ claims that the suspect in his shooting had targeted another person, but mistakenly shot him in the face.
The Banciao District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday announced it was indicting suspect Lin Cheng-wei (林正偉) — also known as “Horse Face” (馬面) — on manslaughter, attempted murder and other charges because he allegedly planned to shoot then-KMT city councilor candidate for New Taipei City (新北市) Chen Hung-yuan (陳鴻源) on the eve of the Nov. 27 special municipality elections because of a land dispute with Chen’s family.
However, in an alleged case of mistaken identity, he shot Lien, the son of former vice president Lien Chan (連戰), the prosecutors said.
Describing the claim from the prosecutors as “fallacious,” Sean Lien’s lawyer, Liu Tsung-hsin (劉宗欣), said Lin had shown himself to be a very cautious man because he had tested the gun before the shooting and it was highly unlikely that such a cautious man would mistake Sean Lien for Chen.
“I am afraid that the claims made by the Banciao District Prosecutors’ Office are unacceptable and the public will not accept such an explanation,” he told a press conference yesterday evening.
Liu said that Lin must have -studied Chen’s appearance and background before the shooting, and would have been unlikely to target the wrong person, especially since he shot Sean Lien at close range and was able to see his face clearly.
He urged the Prosecutor General to move the case to the Special Investigation Panel (SIP) for further investigation and said the National Security Bureau should also be involved in the probe in order to “find out the real truth.”
Sean Lien previously said that Lin called out his name before shooting him in the face, but in an interview with the Chinese--language United Daily News last month, Sean Lien said instead that he was not sure who shouted his name, but said that Lin had cursed him as he approached.
During the interview, Sean Lien stood firm in his belief that his shooting was not a mistake. He said he and his family were not concerned with whether the shooter would be sentenced to death, and they only wanted prosecutors to find out the truth.
KMT Central Standing Committee member Lee Te-wei (李德維), a close friend of Sean Lien, added that Sean Lien also called on prosecutors not to rule out a political motive for the shooting, and urged the government to step up efforts to improve public security and restore public confidence.
Sean Lien continued to challenge the evidence collected by the prosecutors and said a video, which did not include sounds of the shooting, was not solid evidence.
At a separate news conference yesterday, Chen also challenged prosecutors’ claims, denying that he and his father knew the shooter.
Chen joined Sean Lien in dismissing the prosecutors’ claims that Sean Lien was shot in a case of mistaken identity, and said the financial dispute mentioned was made up because they lack a motive for the shooting, urging the SIP to take over the case.
“I have asked my father several times and he said he has never heard of Horse Face, let alone met him or had any disputes with him. None of our family members had any interaction with Horse Face,” Chen said.
Chen said members of his family had been running for public office for more than two decades and he questioned why, if Lin had any unsettled feud with his family, he waited until election eve to take action.
Chen, who eventually won re-election, added that during the campaigning period, his campaign headquarters never received any verbal or written threats from Lin or his associates.
“We have never received any extortion threats from Lin and therefore we find it hard to believe the entire shooting was purely about money,” Chen said, urging prosecutors to go after what he called the “real mastermind” behind the shooting and find the truth so that his family would not have to live in fear.
Chen said that because Lin was in dire financial straits before the shooting, someone had to have given him the money to buy the gun and ammunition — estimated to have cost at least NT$300,000 — or furnish him with the weapon itself.
Meanwhile, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) spokesperson Lin Yu-chang (林右昌) said prosecutors had failed to make clear the suspect’s real -motive and the source of the pistol, and whether there were any accomplices
The indictment did not resolve the public’s doubts and would not be accepted by the public, he added.
Saying the indictment suggested Sean Lien’s wound on his face was quite different from what National Taiwan University Hospital said about Sean Lien’s situation on the night of Nov. 26 just a few hours before the five special municipality elections, Lin accused the KMT of exaggerating Sean Lien’s condition to manipulate the elections.
News of the shooting quickly spread to major televised campaign rallies being held that night, with KMT candidates imploring their audiences to pray for Sean Lien and oppose violence.
DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said several KMT lawmakers at the rallies hinted that the DPP was behind the violence, behavior interpreted by the DPP as intended to sway voters.
On Dec. 31, the DPP filed three lawsuits to invalidate the elections in Taipei, New Taipei City and Greater Taichung.
At a separate setting yesterday, KMT Legislator Chao Li-yun (趙麗雲), noting the public has misgivings about the handling of the election-eve shooting, said the misgivings are a result of the lack of an independent forensic institution to carry out impartial investigations.
Chao urged the Ministry of Justice, the Department of Health and the Ministry of Education to coordinate the establishment of an independent forensic center “to improve the independence, the credibility and the image of the nation’s judicial system.”
She also called for the development and nurturing of local forensic talent. The Legislative Yuan passed a forensic pathology law in December 2005 stipulating that schools of medicine or teaching hospitals of a certain scale should establish dedicated forensic departments.
However, no such departments have been planned or set up to date.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY RICH CHANG AND CNA
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
IMPORTANT BACKER: China seeks to expel US influence from the Indo-Pacific region and supplant Washington as the global leader, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said China is preparing for war to seize Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said in Washington on Friday, warning that Taiwan’s fall would trigger a regional “domino effect” endangering US security. In a speech titled “Maintaining the Peaceful and Stable Status Quo Across the Taiwan Strait is in Line with the Shared Interests of Taiwan and the United States,” Chiu said Taiwan’s strategic importance is “closely tied” to US interests. Geopolitically, Taiwan sits in a “core position” in the first island chain — an arc stretching from Japan, through Taiwan and the Philippines, to Borneo, which is shared by
RSS