Charges against a Nantou County student who was allegedly the source of a post that turned out to be a major fake news story have been dropped.
The student had been charged with disseminating disinformation following the suicide of a Japan-based Taiwanese diplomat in September.
The student — a man surnamed Yu (游) from Nantou’s Puli Township (埔里) — was charged with breaching Article 63 of the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法) after investigators alleged he was the source of a post that in September turned out to be fake.
Photo: Lin Tsui-yi, Taipei Times
Prosecutors said that Yu on Sept. 6 had posted on online bulletin board system Professional Technology Temple, claiming that China’s consulate was helping stranded travelers at Kansai International Airport following Typhoon Jebi, while the Osaka branch of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office was indifferent to the plight of Taiwanese stranded there.
A Taiwan Nantou District Court judge said that the evidence presented by prosecutors was insufficient to prove that social disturbance had occurred as a result of the post.
During questioning, Yu said he was in Osaka from Aug. 30 to Sept. 12, but denied owning the account used to make the post.
Yu said that his personal information had been used by someone else to open a fake account.
The judge said the evidence showed that the account belonged to Yu, but added that those stranded in Japan at the time only had to endure a long wait and there was no way to prove that the Taiwanese stranded at Osaka’s airport felt fear or panic.
Weng Wei-lun (翁偉倫), a lawyer and former public prosecutor at the Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office, said the judge’s position on the case was reasonable, because, although Yu’s post stirred up discontent with the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Osaka, it did not invoke public fear.
Despite the judge’s decision not to proceed with a case, Yu would still endure a backlash from the online community and at National Taipei University, where he is a student, Weng said.
National Taipei University would communicate with Yu after classes resume today to try to determine his motivation for making the post and help him understand the severity of making untrue statements on a public forum, university secretary-general Lu Yu-cheng (呂育誠) said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the decision to not proceed with a case against Yu was “displeasing and regretful,” and that it was hard to accept.
The ministry said it would look into what actions could be taken to protect the rights and interests of those who were negatively affected by the disinformation Yu spread.
Representative to Japan Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) said he was happy the person behind the fake news story was found, so that former director-general of the Osaka branch of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office Su Chii-cherng’s (蘇啟誠) name could be cleared.
Su committed suicide in his residence in Japan on Sept. 14.
Hsieh said that anyone would be furious over the suicide, which resulted from tens of thousands of people directing their condemnation and grievances at the small group of representatives working hard at the Osaka representative office.
Hsieh last month said that he asked for an investigation into the fake news story, but stopped pursuing the issue when he discovered the post was made by a university student.
“Finding heavier laws [with which to charge Yu] is a simple matter, but in the end I used the Social Order Maintenance Act — the lightest option — to pursue charges,” Hsieh said.
The Puli Police Precinct on Saturday said they would respect the court’s decision and would not pursue further charges against Yu.
Additional reporting by Wu Cheng-feng, Weng yu-huang, Peng Wan-hsin and Lin Tsui-yi in Japan
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
The age requirement for commercial pilots and airline transport pilots is to be lowered by two years, to 18 and 21 years respectively, to expand the pool of pilots in accordance with international standards, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications announced today. The changes are part of amendments to articles 93, 119 and 121 of the Regulations Governing Licenses and Ratings for Airmen (航空人員檢定給證管理規則). The amendments take into account age requirements for aviation personnel certification in the Convention on International Civil Aviation and EU’s aviation safety regulations, as well as the practical needs of managing aviation personnel licensing, the ministry said. The ministry
RSS