A man convicted in the attempted bombings of a high-speed rail train and a legislator’s office two years ago was sentenced on Thursday to 20 years in prison in his first retrial by the Taiwan High Court.
Hu Tsung-hsien (胡宗賢), a lawyer, was convicted on two counts of attempted murder for making the bombs and planting them on the moving train and outside Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lu Chia-chen’s (盧嘉辰) office in New Taipei City.
Hu’s accomplice, Chu Ya-tung (朱亞東), was also found guilty and given a sentence of 10 years and six months.
The Taiwan High Court revoked its original ruling in which Hu was also found guilty of forgery and obstruction of public utilities.
The sentences can be appealed.
The court found that Hu and Chu planted two suitcase bombs on the train and another two outside Lu’s office on April 12, 2013, in a convoluted scheme to manipulate the stock market.
Hu also planned the bombings to vent his anger at being indicted in February 2013 on charges of extortion and leaking private information, the court said.
Hu and Chu, both in their 40s, fled to Guangdong Province, China, after planting the bombs, but were found and arrested with the help of Chinese authorities.
The two were brought back to Taiwan on April 15, 2013, for trial.
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