Police in Taichung yesterday arrested a couple for allegedly posting threats against 11 Taipei prosecutors, after authorities on Thursday questioned a man surnamed Tai (戴) in Taipei in connection with the case.
The couple, a man surnamed Chou (周) and his girlfriend, surnamed Lin (林), both 41, were taken into custody late on Thursday after police tracked them down based on their social media accounts and IP address.
The three suspects are facing charges of “threatening to cause injury to life, body or property, thereby endangering another person’s safety” under the Criminal Code, and also for allegedly circulating another person’s photograph and private information without consent, a contravention of the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法).
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Tai, 39, allegedly posted on Facebook a composite image of the 11 Taipei prosecutors handling the investigation of the Core Pacific Mall corruption case, adding: “Remember their names and faces.”
The Taichung couple allegedly reposted Tai’s composite image and added red streaks to represent blood, with the words: “A life for a life.”
The corruption investigation led to the arrest of former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), former Taipei deputy mayor Pong Cheng-sheng (彭振聲), other city officials and executives of Core Pacific Group.
“A life for a life” allegedly referred to the death of Pong’s wife after she fell from a building earlier this week.
Investigators said that “a life for a life” could be construed as inciting a death threat against the prosecutors.
Under questioning, the three suspects complained of the “unfair treatment” of Ko, Pong and other officials.
Prosecutors yesterday said there could be other suspects and that they were investigating Tai’s earlier posts of the photos and names of three judges presiding over the Core Pacific Mall trials.
Investigators believe that Tai had an accomplice who took the pictures illegally during a court hearing.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
STEERING FAILURE: The first boat of its class is experiencing teething issues as it readies for acceptance by the navy, according to a recent story about rudder failure The Hai Kun (海鯤), the nation’s first locally built submarine, allegedly suffered a total failure of stern hydraulic systems during the second round of sea acceptance trials on June 26, and sailors were forced to manually operate the X-rudder to turn the submarine and return to port, news Web site Mirror Daily reported yesterday. The report said that tugboats following the Hai Kun assisted the submarine in avoiding collisions with other ships due to the X-rudder malfunctioning. At the time of the report, the submarine had completed its trials and was scheduled to begin diving and surfacing tests in shallow areas. The X-rudder,
RSS