The Supreme Court yesterday upheld an eight-month sentence handed down to a Chinese national who drove a speedboat into the Tamsui River (淡水河) last year for breaching Taiwan's immigration law.
The court dismissed the man's appeal, after a previous appeal was dismissed by the High Court last month, making the ruling final.
The man, identified as Ruan Fangyong (阮芳勇), left the Chinese coast off Fujian Province in a speedboat at about 10pm on June 8 last year, and arrived at one of the piers in the Tamsui River not far from Tamsui Old Street at 10:19am the next day, according to court papers.
Photo: Chang Wen-chuan, Taipei Times
The small boat that Ruan was navigating had been monitored by the Coast Guard Administration after it received a report that the speedboat collided with a local ferry, the documents said.
Ruan then went ashore and told coast guard officers who came to apprehend him that he wanted to surrender, and said he had escaped from China and came to Taiwan for democracy, the court said.
He was then arrested by the coast guard and detained by the National Immigration Agency (NIA) while his case was investigated by prosecutors.
Ruan was indicted by the Shilin District Prosecutors' Office for breaching immigration laws in August.
The Shilin District Court in September ruled that the man was guilty of entering Taiwan without permission, but also argued that he should be handed a lenient sentence for surrendering himself to the authorities, and gave him an eight-month sentence.
On Dec. 20, the High Court dismissed his appeal, finding no fault with the lower court's sentence.
According to the law, Ruan could be simply deported for entering Taiwan without permission.
However, after the district court's ruling, the NIA was cited by local media as saying that once the verdict was finalized, Ruan would be deported if he was not sentenced to jail time, indicating he would likely have to serve time for the offense.
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