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.
SHORT-TERM OUTLOOK: The Chinese military would most likely focus on rebuilding its organization and leadership in the next few years, experts said Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) military purge has reduced the risks of a planned war against Taiwan, yet increased the danger of a conflict sparked by a miscalculation or accident, Taiwanese experts said yesterday. They made the comments at a seminar on the Fifth Plenary Session of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) 20th Central Committee held by the research group Secure Taiwan Associate Corp (STA) in Taipei. The wholesale sacking of Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) officers and managers of the aerospace and defense industry is sure to set back Xi’s timetable to prepare the PLA to launch an invasion of Taiwan
BATTLE-TESTED: Czech companies’ drones, software and navigation systems have been tested in the Ukraine war, while other countries’ are lab-tested, a Czech ex-official said Czech manufacturers are interested in setting up drone assembly lines in Taiwan, former Czech Chamber of Deputies president Marketa Pekarova Adamova told a forum in Taipei yesterday. Adamova made the comments at the inauguration of the Global UAV Academy, an organization dedicated to international cooperation in drone supply chains, technological certification and pilot training. The Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology said the Czech Republic is the largest importer of Taiwanese drones and uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) components. Adamova, who transitioned to the defense industry after retiring from politics, said the Roman adage “si vis pacem, para bellum” — “If you
STAY VIGILANT: An aircraft carrier and battle group were located to the east of the Philippines, while other ships were identified off the east and southeast coast of Taiwan China has more than 50 naval and other official vessels operating in a wide swath of sea stretching from southern Japan down to Taiwan and off the Philippines, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said on Wednesday, calling the threat level “obvious.” Taiwan is stepping up efforts to issue details and maps depicting locations where Chinese warships and coast guard vessels operate. “We are staying vigilant about their activities,” Wu said. “The simultaneous threat to Taiwan, Japan and the Philippines is obvious.” The remarks accompanied a map he posted on X showing the locations of 53 ships, 34 of them navy warships,
WORRIES PILE UP: The planned extension would generate nearly 10 million cubic meters of excavated soil, the disposal of which has not been explained, a former EPA official said Yilan County residents, backed by civic groups, on Wednesday filed an administrative lawsuit to overturn the environmental impact assessment (EIA) approval for the Yilan-bound high-speed rail (HSR) extension. They filed the lawsuit after the Executive Yuan on Sept. 11 rejected an administrative appeal. Former Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) deputy minister and lawyer Thomas Chan (詹順貴) said the project’s EIA review was one of the hastiest he had ever seen during his 30-year career in environmental law. Construction of the line would generate nearly 10 million cubic meters of excavated earth and rock, the disposal of which has not yet been explained to the
RSS