A man who on social media called for the decapitation of President William Lai (賴清德) was sentenced by the Taipei District Court on Monday last week to two months in prison, suspended for two years.
The man, a 42-year-old Taipei resident surnamed Hsu (許), was charged with threatening the public under the Criminal Code. His sentence is commutable to a fine of NT$1,000 per day of the prison sentence.
He was also fined NT$50,000, which would go to the National Treasury Administration.
Photo: Taipei Times
The court said it showed leniency in its sentencing, as Hsu confessed and had no prior criminal record.
Discontented with last year’s recall movement and the state of cross-strait relations, Hsu posted three threats on his Threads account, ra_bosh_91, on March 4 last year while using a virtual private network, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said in its indictment.
“Kill the Green bird toads first, then behead President Lai and there will be peace in East Asia,” the indictment quoted the post as saying.
“Green birds” is a derogatory term for supporters of Lai’s Democratic Progressive Party.
“Decapitate President Lai, save Taiwan! Your turn to step up,” Hsu wrote on March 14.
“Kill the Green birds, one bullet per person, then decapitate Lai — it’s our responsibility!” a third post said.
Prosecutors indicted Hsu in February on suspicion of endangering public safety and threatening the public, and requested a heavy sentence to serve as a warning to others.
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
Taiwan’s two cases of hantavirus so far this year are on par with previous years’ case numbers, and the government is coordinating rat extermination work, so there should not be any outbreaks, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said today in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper). An increase in rat sightings in Taipei and New Taipei City has raised concerns about the spread of hantavirus, as rats can carry the disease. In January, a man in his 70s who lived in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) tested positive posthumously for hantavirus, Taiwan’s
RSS