Taipei prosecutors yesterday indicted a graduate student for allegedly torturing cats and leaving them to die at different locations on the National Taiwan University (NTU) campus.
Lee Nien-lung (李念龍), a graduate student of marine engineering at NTU, allegedly tortured the two cats last year. Prosecutors charged Lee with violation of the Animal Protection Act (動物保護法).
ALLEGATIONS
The indictment stated that on Oct. 8 last year, Lee obtained a cat named “National Day” after contacting its owner over the Internet. He brought the cat to the NTU campus and tortured it, causing hemorrhaging and hydrocephalus, commonly known as water on the brain, the indictment said.
After Lee allegedly tortured the cat, he left it near the NTU library, where it was found by passersby who took it to a veterinarian. The cat could not be saved and was put to sleep.
SECOND CAT
In November last year, Lee telephoned another owner of a cat named “Copal” to say he wanted to adopt it, prosecutors said.
He tortured the cat, causing several broken bones and internal bleeding and then left it to die near his on-campus dormitory, prosecutors said. The cat was found by passersby but could not be revived.
Around 10 cats were found abandoned and with signs of torture near or on the NTU campus. As the number climbed, Internet users collected and passed around information from cat owners, eventually leading them to suspect Lee.
When questioned, Lee denied torturing the animals, saying that he had adopted dozens of cats but had set them free.
Prosecutors found Lee’s testimony to be filled with inconsistencies and yesterday indicted him.
If convicted, Lee could face up to one year in prison.
Taiwan’s Liu Ming-i, right, who also goes by the name Ray Liu, poses with a Chinese Taipei flag after winning the gold medal in the men’s physique 170cm competition at the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation Asian Championship in Ajman, United Arab Emirates, yesterday.
Costa Rica sent a group of intelligence officials to Taiwan for a short-term training program, the first time the Central American country has done so since the countries ended official diplomatic relations in 2007, a Costa Rican media outlet reported last week. Five officials from the Costa Rican Directorate of Intelligence and Security last month spent 23 days in Taipei undergoing a series of training sessions focused on national security, La Nacion reported on Friday, quoting unnamed sources. The Costa Rican government has not confirmed the report. The Chinese embassy in Costa Rica protested the news, saying in a statement issued the same
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
RSS