Former decathlete Gu Jing-shui (古金水) yesterday called on prosecutors not to appeal his case with the Supreme Court after the Taiwan High Court’s Hualien branch acquitted him on Friday of charges that stemmed from an explosion on a Uni Air passenger aircraft in 1999.
Gu, a renowned athlete and gold medalist in the decathlon at the Asian Games in Thailand in 1970, was sentenced to 10 years in jail by the Hualien District Court in April 2001. The Taiwan High Court’s Hualien branch in May 2002 reduced the sentence to seven-and-a-half years.
Gu was originally convicted for allegedly asking his nephew to carry petroleum in bleach and fabric softener bottles on board a Hualien-bound Uni Air MD-80 plane.
According to the original verdict, which drew from an Aviation Safety Council investigation, the petroleum caused an explosion while the plane was taxiing on the runway, killing one passenger and injuring 20. The man killed in the accident was Gu’s older brother, Gu Jing-chi (古金池).
Gu Jing-shui insists that the bottles he gave his nephew prior to boarding were filled with bleach, detergent and fabric softener.
After Gu appealed the case to the Supreme Court and won, the High Court’s Hualien branch acquitted Gu in a third trial.
However, as prosecutors repeatedly appealed the case to the Supreme Court and the court requested retrials, Gu’s acquittals in the fourth and fifth trials were not final verdicts.
Friday’s acquittal occurred in the sixth trial.
According to this and former acquittal verdicts, judges said there was insufficient evidence that there had been petroleum in the bleach and fabric softener bottles, and that it also could not be proved that the explosion was related to the liquids in the bottles. In addition, prosecutors did not have any reason to believe that Gu Jing-shui intended to destroy the aircraft.
“Prosecutors, please let me go,” Gu Jing-shui called on Hualien prosecutors yesterday, asking them not to bring the case to the Supreme Court for a fourth time.
“The case has affected me for 11 years and has had a serious impact on my life,” he said.
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