The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a draft amendment that would stiffen penalties for offenders convicted of negligent homicide, amid controversy that Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), who was indicted after the Taroko Express derailment killed 49, might only face a five-year term.
Proposed by the Ministry of Justice, the amendment to the Criminal Code would impose increased sentences, as there is the perception that the existing statute is out of date and too lenient on offenders found to be responsible for incidents resulting in a high number of fatalities.
The punishments laid out in the law must be proportionate to the crimes committed, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) told a Cabinet meeting yesterday.
Photo: Wang Chin-yi, Taipei Times
While prosecutors charged Lee — subcontractor at the project site and driver of the crane truck involved in the derailment — and several other suspects with negligent homicide, among other charges, there was a public outcry that the harshest punishment for a conviction could only be five years in prison or a fine of NT$500,000 (US$17,768).
The Cabinet’s draft amendment would change the sentence for a serious offense of negligent homicide to one to seven years in prison, while it would impose a prison sentence of 10 years to life for intentional homicide and a sentence of seven years to life for intentional injury.
The approved amendment is to be sent to the Judicial Yuan, which is expected to cosign it, and then to the Legislative Yuan, where lawmakers would deliberate over whether to pass the amendment into law.
However, legal experts say that amendments cannot be applied retroactively, so Lee, if convicted of negligent homicide, would only receive a sentence of up to five years in prison.
On Wednesday, the Hualien District Court approved prosecutors’ request that Lee’s detention be extended another three months, on the grounds that he is a flight risk and could tamper with evidence.
The court also extended the detention of Lee’s Vietnamese assistant, Hoa Van Hao (華文好).
Media reports have said that during court hearings, Lee attempted to shift the blame from himself to Hoa, allegedly saying that the assistant had suggested using the excavator.
Hoa reportedly used the excavator to try to free the stuck crane truck, before the strap broke and the truck rolled down onto the tracks.
However, Lee’s allegations were contradicted by Hoa’s testimony, who through his lawyer told the court that he was instructed to drive the excavator along the access road to near the truck, but it was Lee who operated the excavator.
Additional reporting by CNA
Authorities have detained three former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TMSC, 台積電) employees on suspicion of compromising classified technology used in making 2-nanometer chips, the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. Prosecutors are holding a former TSMC engineer surnamed Chen (陳) and two recently sacked TSMC engineers, including one person surnamed Wu (吳) in detention with restricted communication, following an investigation launched on July 25, a statement said. The announcement came a day after Nikkei Asia reported on the technology theft in an exclusive story, saying TSMC had fired two workers for contravening data rules on advanced chipmaking technology. Two-nanometer wafers are the most
Tsunami waves were possible in three areas of Kamchatka in Russia’s Far East, the Russian Ministry for Emergency Services said yesterday after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit the nearby Kuril Islands. “The expected wave heights are low, but you must still move away from the shore,” the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app, after the latest seismic activity in the area. However, the Pacific Tsunami Warning System in Hawaii said there was no tsunami warning after the quake. The Russian tsunami alert was later canceled. Overnight, the Krasheninnikov volcano in Kamchatka erupted for the first time in 600 years, Russia’s RIA
CHINA’s BULLYING: The former British prime minister said that he believes ‘Taiwan can and will’ protect its freedom and democracy, as its people are lovers of liberty Former British prime minister Boris Johnson yesterday said Western nations should have the courage to stand with and deepen their economic partnerships with Taiwan in the face of China’s intensified pressure. He made the remarks at the ninth Ketagalan Forum: 2025 Indo-Pacific Security Dialogue hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Prospect Foundation in Taipei. Johnson, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time, said he had seen Taiwan’s coastline on a screen on his indoor bicycle, but wanted to learn more about the nation, including its artificial intelligence (AI) development, the key technology of the 21st century. Calling himself an
South Korea yesterday said that it was removing loudspeakers used to blare K-pop and news reports to North Korea, as the new administration in Seoul tries to ease tensions with its bellicose neighbor. The nations, still technically at war, had already halted propaganda broadcasts along the demilitarized zone, Seoul’s military said in June after the election of South Korean President Lee Jae-myung. It said in June that Pyongyang stopped transmitting bizarre, unsettling noises along the border that had become a major nuisance for South Korean residents, a day after South Korea’s loudspeakers fell silent. “Starting today, the military has begun removing the loudspeakers,”