The Tainan District Court yesterday rejected criticism that it was too lenient in its sentencing of five people convicted over the collapse of a Tainan housing complex in an earthquake on Feb. 6 that killed 115 people and injured more than 100.
Five people involved in the construction of the complex were found guilty of “professional negligence resulting in death” and on Friday were sentenced to five years in prison, although the verdict can be appealed. Each person was also fined NT$90,000.
Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) in a TV interview on Saturday said that although the five were found guilty, there was a big gap between the sentences and public expectations.
The district court must explain why it handed down these sentences and justify the amount of the fines, Lai said, adding that otherwise public faith in the justice system would be further eroded.
Kuo Chen-hsiu (郭貞秀), the court’s administrative chief, yesterday said Lai’s criticism was irrational and displayed no awareness of the rule of law, adding that the court found it “regrettable.”
As a mayor and four-term legislator, Lai should have a clear understanding of laws related to professional negligence resulting in death, Kuo said.
“If he thinks the punishment for such an offense is too lenient there are plenty of opportunities to propose amendments,” Kuo said.
Kuo said the Tainan Prosecutors’ Office indicted the defendants, including Lin Ming-hui (林明輝), owner of Weiguan Corp, which built the Weiguan Jinlong housing complex in 1993, on the charge of professional negligence resulting in death.
Kuo said the court could only act within the bounds of the law, which stipulates that the maximum punishment for the offense is a five-year prison term and a fine of NT$90,000.
In view of the suffering of the complex’s residents caused by their building’s collapse, even imposing the maximum punishment was inadequate, Kuo said.
However, she said the remedy would be for the public to urge the legislature to revise related laws and increase the sentence for the crime, as it is not within the scope of the court’s authority to increase the sentence.
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
RSS