The man who shot former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Central Standing Committee member Sean Lien (連勝文) and killed an innocent bystander on the eve of local elections in 2010 was sentenced to life in prison by the Taiwan High Court yesterday.
The court overturned a verdict handed down by the New Taipei City District Court in May in which Lin Cheng-wei (林正偉) was sentenced to 24 years in jail for multiple offenses.
The lower court found Lin guilty of attempting to murder Lien, of the negligent manslaughter of bystander Huang Yun-sheng (黃運聖) and contravening the Act Governing the Control of Guns, Ammunition and Knives (槍砲彈藥刀械管制條例).
While the high court upheld the attempted murder conviction related to the shooting of Lien, it changed the negligent manslaughter conviction involving the bystander to murder after determining that Lin had the “intent” to kill.
Lin fired a shot that went through Lien’s face and killed Huang during a campaign rally for New Taipei Council KMT candidate Chen Hung-yuan (陳鴻源) on Nov. 26, 2010, the night before a special municipalities election. Lin later claimed his target was Chen, but that he shot Lien after mistaking him for Chen.
According to the latest verdict, Lin was wrestling with Lien before he pulled the trigger, but that he still insisted on firing his gun at the dodging Lien without any regard for the other people at the rally.
Even when Lin was surrounded after the shooting, he still attempted to get off another shot, the court said.
The high court added that Lin can appeal the ruling with the Supreme Court.
Sean Lien, former vice president Lien Chan’s (連戰) son, recovered from his wounds and yesterday he called for the investigation into the motives and target to be continued.
In a written statement, Sean Lien shared his dissatisfaction with the court findings, which said Lin had shot Sean Lien by mistake. He urged prosecutors to continue the investigation into the motives and targets, and whether there were any accomplices.
“Prosecutors should continue to look into the key issues of the incident, including the source of the gun and the intended target. Otherwise the incident will become an unresolved case and make a mockery of the government’s pursuit of social and legal justice,” he said.
Sean Lien said Lin had failed to pass polygraph tests when asked two key questions during the second trial — who was his intended target and where he got the firearm — but the court did not take account of the polygraph results in its verdict.
Sean Lien also criticized “top officials” in the government over their description of the incident as an “accidental shooting” and accused prosecutors of carrying out the investigation in accordance with the government’s assumptions.
“There are so many unresolved issues in the case and as a person who enjoys rich resources, I still feel helpless when facing the legal system. It’s unimaginable what others [who are less fortunate] go through when fighting injustice,” he said.
GEARING UP: An invasion would be difficult and would strain China’s forces, but it has conducted large-scale training supporting an invasion scenario, the report said China increased its military pressure on Taiwan last year and took other steps in preparation for a potential invasion, an annual report published by the US Department of Defense on Wednesday showed. “Throughout 2023, Beijing continued to erode longstanding norms in and around Taiwan by employing a range of pressure tactics against Taiwan,” the report said, which is titled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China (PRC) 2024.” The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “is preparing for a contingency to unify Taiwan with the PRC by force, if perceived as necessary by Beijing, while simultaneously deterring, delaying or denying
PEACEFUL RESOLUTION: A statement issued following a meeting between Australia and Britain reiterated support for Taiwan and opposition to change in the Taiwan Strait Canada should support the peaceful resolution of Taiwan’s destiny according to the will of Taiwanese, Canadian lawmakers said in a resolution marking the second anniversary of that nation’s Indo-Pacific strategy on Monday. The Canadian House of Commons committee on Canada-Chinese relations made the comment as part of 34 recommendations for the new edition of the strategy, adding that Ottawa should back Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations. Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, first published in October 2022, emphasized that the region’s security, trade, human rights, democracy and environmental protection would play a crucial role in shaping Canada’s future. The strategy called for Canada to deepen
TECH CONFERENCE: Input from industry and academic experts can contribute to future policymaking across government agencies, President William Lai said Multifunctional service robots could be the next new area in which Taiwan could play a significant role, given its strengths in chip manufacturing and software design, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman and chief executive C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said yesterday. “In the past two months, our customers shared a lot of their future plans with me. Artificial intelligence [AI] and AI applications were the most talked about subjects in our conversation,” Wei said in a speech at the National Science and Technology Conference in Taipei. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, counts Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Apple Inc and
LEAP FORWARD: The new tanks are ‘decades more advanced than’ the army’s current fleet and would enable it to compete with China’s tanks, a source said A shipment of 38 US-made M1A2T Abrams tanks — part of a military procurement package from the US — arrived at the Port of Taipei early yesterday. The vehicles are the first batch of 108 tanks and other items that then-US president Donald Trump announced for Taiwan in 2019. The Ministry of National Defense at the time allocated NT$40.5 billion (US$1.25 billion) for the purchase. To accommodate the arrival of the tanks, the port suspended the use of all terminals and storage area machinery from 6pm last night until 7am this morning. The tanks are expected to be deployed at the army’s training