The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office today indicted two people for social media posts that allegedly called for violence against prosecutors and judges in an ongoing corruption case.
Prosecutors are charging Tai Jui-ning (戴瑞甯), admin of the “Taiwanese-style democracy memes” social media account, for a post that depicted 11 prosecutors and three judges involved in the Core Pacific City corruption case covered in bloodstains.
A woman surnamed Lin (林) then reposted the photo on the social media platform Threads with a caption that said “a life for a life,” prosecutors said.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
The actions led to charges against the two for intimidation, endangering officials’ safety and contraventions of the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法).
Prosecutors are seeking a seven-month sentence for Tai and six months for Lin.
Lin’s boyfriend, surnamed Chou (周), is not facing charges.
Prosecutors said that Tai, who works as an engineer, has closely followed the Core Pacific City corruption case, which involves former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲).
After hearing about the death of the wife of former Taipei deputy mayor Pong Cheng-sheng (彭振聲), who is among the suspects in the case, Tai on July 1 allegedly used editing software to make the bloodstained image of prosecutors.
He then posted the image on his social media page with captions like “remember their names and faces,” before doing the same to the judges presiding over the case.
Lin then downloaded the image and reposted it on Threads, attaching her own captions that prosecutors said advocated for violence against investigators.
Her actions expressed intention to harm prosecutors, threatening their physical safety and freedom, prosecutors said.
Tai and Lin sought to intimidate and incite the public to violence, they added.
The two were today transferred to the Taipei District Court, which is to determine if they are to remain in detention.
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