Prosecutors have launched an investigation into the apparent suicide of a suspect at the Taipei Detention Center after ruling that it would have been nearly impossible for the man to use the plastic water barrel in his cell to end his life.
The detention center said on Monday that Lin Yu-chiung (林煜荃), 38, had been found dead next to the water barrel in his cell in the morning, bleeding from the nose.
A note reading “children want to see me, but they could not,” was found in his cell.
The center said surveillance cameras in the cell showed Lin kneeling down and holding his head in the barrel for about 70 minutes, before collapsing by the sink, hitting his face in the process.
Lin’s cellmate called security after hearing Lin hit the floor, but the footage showed he had not gone near Lin, the center said, adding that this showed Lin acted on his own.
If foul play is ruled out, Lin’s death would be the nation’s first jail suicide by drowning.
However, prosecutors said they doubted someone could kill themselves in such a way, given that instinctually people would try to remove their head from water if they could not breathe. They said an autopsy would be conducted soon.
Lin’s family have asked officials to determine the cause of death.
Lin was arrested on Jan. 6 for alleged involvement in a double murder during the robbery of a Taipei jewelry store on Dec. 31.
He is suspected of killing the store’s owners — a woman and her son — with a hammer before setting the store on fire and fleeing with millions of dollars in jewelry.
Earlier this month, investigators took Lin to a location where he was alleged to have hid the stolen jewelry, but found nothing.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard