Chen Chin-tien (陳進添) has admitted to throwing smoke devices during a protest near the Taipei Municipal Stadium during the Taipei Summer Universiade opening ceremony on Saturday last week and is being detained without bail, police sources said yesterday.
Authorities have identified Chen as a retired air force lieutenant colonel and a member of the Southern Taiwan Alliance for Resistance Against Tyranny (南台灣抗暴聯盟).
When questioned by police at the Songshan Precinct, Chen initially denied responsibility for the two smoke devices thrown during the protest, claiming that the objects he threw were water bottles, sources said.
Before formalizing the affidavit, investigators showed Chen video of the incident and told him that perjury is a crime punishable by imprisonment and is legal grounds for disqualification from receiving a public service pension, they said.
Chen then said he threw a smoke device and asked that the record be altered to reflect his admission, which investigators declined, as such changes are not legal, sources claimed.
At 7:45pm on Wednesday, the Taipei District Court summoned Chen for further questioning.
Prosecutors later petitioned to detain Chen without bail, citing the possibility that he might pose further risk to the public or collude with others to commit perjury, which the court granted.
Chen is suspected of coercion and obstruction — the former for allegedly preventing athletes from entering the stadium through the threat of violence and the latter for allegedly interfering with police efforts to maintain security, prosecutors said.
Perjury is an offensive under the Criminal Code and carries a penalty of two to seven years in prison, sources said.
According to the Public Functionary Discipline Act (公務員懲戒法), military personnel convicted of a serious crime could be stripped of benefits and ordered to repay stipends already received, they said.
Chen called his wife from the bailiff’s office to tell her not to worry or watch television, and to asking her to water their plants and feed their pet goldfish, sources said.
Addition reporting by Liu Ching-ho
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