The Changhua District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday named a new defendant in the case of a high-school student who was allegedly starved and physically abused to death at a spiritual retreat held by a non-traditional religious organization.
The father of the victim, 18-year-old Chan Chun-yu (詹淳寓), has accused Chen Chiao-ming (陳巧明), who runs the organization, of abusing Chan to death. Prosecutors said Chen has denied any involvement in the teenager’s death.
After questioning Chen yesterday, prosecutors also searched the organization’s headquarters in Changhua County.
Chan’s mother, Huang Fen-chueh (黃芬雀), who is a member of the organization, has been in detention since last week on suspicion of abusing her son to death.
According to prosecutors, Huang on Monday admitted that she and other members of the organization tied Chan up and beat him.
However, Huang said that the teenager had not died from physical abuse, but from using recreational drugs, prosecutors said, adding that Huang had also refused to name her alleged accomplices.
Prosecutors said they have so far questioned Huang, Chen and organization staff member Hsu Ai-chen (許愛珍).
The three have all been named as defendants by prosecutors.
There are 77 incidents of Taiwanese travelers going missing in China between January last year and last month, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said. More than 40 remain unreachable, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said on Friday. Most of the reachable people in the more than 30 other incidents were allegedly involved in fraud, while some had disappeared for personal reasons, Luo said. One of these people is Kuo Yu-hsuan (郭宇軒), a 22-year-old Taiwanese man from Kaohsiung who went missing while visiting China in August. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office last month said in a news statement that he was under investigation
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An aviation jacket patch showing a Formosan black bear punching Winnie the Pooh has become popular overseas, including at an aviation festival held by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force at the Ashiya Airbase yesterday. The patch was designed last year by Taiwanese designer Hsu Fu-yu (徐福佑), who said that it was inspired by Taiwan’s countermeasures against frequent Chinese military aircraft incursions. The badge shows a Formosan black bear holding a Republic of China flag as it punches Winnie the Pooh — a reference to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) — who is dressed in red and is holding a honey pot with
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