The Taoyuan Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Corps arrested online commentator Lin Yu-hong (林裕紘) after he returned from Vienna yesterday and forwarded his case to the Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office.
The district prosecutors’ office said it would decide whether to submit a request to the Taoyuan District Court to detain Lin.
Lin, who goes by the Facebook handle Lin Bay Hao You (Lin Bay 好油) and has been critical of the government’s egg import policy, said late last month that he would stop posting after receiving death threats.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
However, hours after police summoned Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) employee Hsu Che-pin (許哲賓) for questioning and searched his apartment for allegedly sending the threats, Lin on Oct. 3 wrote on Facebook that the threats were a fabrication.
He said he had enlisted Hsu to send the death threats as he could no longer bear the stress of reporting on agricultural issues after being the target of numerous smears.
Hsu is in police custody.
Police said they had contacted Lin after he said he was threatened and asked him to go to the station to make a statement, but Lin said he had already scheduled a 17-day trip to Vienna starting on Sunday last week.
Lin contacted the police on Friday, saying that he would be returning to Taiwan yesterday, they said.
Lin said his phone and personal laptop were stolen at the Vienna International Airport, police said, adding that as Lin had not reported the case to the local authorities, they suspected he could be attempting to hide evidence.
Yu Hsuan International Law Firm manager Liao Fang-hsuan (廖芳萱) said that if Lin and Hsu had planned the entire scheme together, they could be found guilty of making false accusations.
If no victims are named, they could be sentenced to one year in prison or fined NT$9,000, Liao said, adding that if a victim is identified, they could serve up to seven years in prison.
As Lin knew the threats were false, the crime of making threats is baseless, but if Lin’s family were frightened by the threats, he could be found guilty of violating Article 305 of the Criminal Code, and have to serve up to two years in prison or pay a fine of NT$9,000, she said.
If found guilty of disturbing public peace, Lin and Hsu could be found guilty of contravening Article 63 of the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法) and have to spend three days in detention or pay a fine of NT$30,000, she said.
The district court might not approve a detention request for non-targeted false accusations, but could consider Lin’s claims that his phone and laptop were stolen as an attempt to hide evidence, which could increase the chance of such a request being granted, Liao said.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
RSS