The Taiwan High Court’s Prosecutors Office yesterday said it has asked the Taiwan District Prosecutors’ Office to look into former minister of national defense Chen Chao-min (陳肇敏) and six military officers’ alleged criminal responsibility over the wrongful execution of an air force private for the rape and murder of a five-year-old girl 15 years ago.
The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Special Investigation Panel (SIP) concluded on May 24 that Chiang Kuo-ching (江國慶) was not guilty of the crime for which he was executed in 1997, but it did not issue indictments against Chen or the other officers believed to have played a role in Chiang’s interrogation and coerced confession.
At the time, the SIP said although military prosecutors had coerced Chiang into confessing by torturing him, the military officers could not be indicted because the 10-year statute of limitations had expired.
The Taiwan High Court’s Prosecutors Office said it has ordered the district prosecutors to look into whether Chen and six officers violated Article 302 of the Criminal Code — illegal detention resulting in homicide — and Article 125 — abuse of prosecutorial authority causing homicide.
The Taiwan High Court’s Prosecutors Office said there were nine officers involved in the incident, but because one has died and one is still serving in the military and is being investigated by military prosecutors, it only ordered the district prosecutors to investigate Chen and the remaining six.
Prosecutors previously sought indictments for a violation of Article 304, regarding coercion, which has a statute of limitations of 10 years.
Article 125 and Article 302 have statutes of limitations of 20 years to 30 years.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
The Taipei MRT is to begin accepting mobile payment services in the fall, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said on Saturday. When the company finishes the installation of new payment units at ticketing gates in October, MRT passengers can use credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay, the operator said. In addition, the MRT would also provide QR payment codes — which would be compatible with Line Pay, Jkopay, iPass Money, PXPay Plus, EasyWallet, iCash Pay, Taiwan Pay and Taishin Pay — to access the railway system. Currently, passengers can access the Taipei MRT by buying a single-journey token or using EasyCard,
RSS