The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld prison sentences for two Bamboo Union members involved in the 2020 shooting of Internet celebrity Holger Chen (陳之漢).
The court rejected appeals from Liu Cheng-hao (劉丞浩) and Shih Chun-chi (施俊吉), who instructed Liu to carry out the attack. The duo are members of the Baohe chapter of the Bamboo Union organized crime group.
Shih was sentenced to 16 years in prison and Liu was sentenced to 15-and-a-half years for attempted murder, as well as separate charges of extortion and kidnapping for ransom.
Photo: Chiu Yi-chin, Taipei Times
The shooting occurred at 2:23am on Aug. 28, 2020, outside a fitness center Chen owned in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口).
According to witnesses, Liu shot Chen three times outside G.K. Fitness Club on Renai Road, hitting him twice in the arm and once in the leg.
Chen remained conscious throughout the incident and even began a livestream as he lay on the ground waiting for medical help. He later underwent surgery at Linkou’s Chang Gung Memorial Hospital.
New Taipei City police identified Liu as a suspect after reviewing surveillance camera footage and interviewing a taxi driver who had taken Liu to G.K. Fitness Club.
Police at the time said Shih had instructed Liu to carry out the attack on a contract.
Shih, a ranking member in the Baohe chapter, refused to reveal who had hired the group to murder Chen.
In July 2021, the New Taipei City District Court sentenced Liu to six years in prison and Shih to five for attempted murder.
They were also concurrently found guilty on separate extortion and kidnapping charges, with the district court adding 10 years to Liu’s sentence, and 13 years and six months to Shih’s.
Following an appeal, the High Court in August last year reduced Liu’s sentence to 15 years and six months, and Shih’s sentence to 16 years after both men reached a settlement with some of their victims during a panel hearing.
The men appealed that ruling as well, resulting in Thursday’s verdict by the Supreme Court.
The court also upheld the sentences handed to Baohe chapter leaders Lin Hsiu-po (林修伯) and Liang Chih-sheng (梁智勝) for their involvement in the extortion and kidnapping cases.
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
RSS