The Taoyuan Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Corps arrested online commentator Lin Yu-hong (林裕紘) after he returned from Vienna yesterday and forwarded his case to the Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office.
The district prosecutors’ office said it would decide whether to submit a request to the Taoyuan District Court to detain Lin.
Lin, who goes by the Facebook handle Lin Bay Hao You (Lin Bay 好油) and has been critical of the government’s egg import policy, said late last month that he would stop posting after receiving death threats.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
However, hours after police summoned Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) employee Hsu Che-pin (許哲賓) for questioning and searched his apartment for allegedly sending the threats, Lin on Oct. 3 wrote on Facebook that the threats were a fabrication.
He said he had enlisted Hsu to send the death threats as he could no longer bear the stress of reporting on agricultural issues after being the target of numerous smears.
Hsu is in police custody.
Police said they had contacted Lin after he said he was threatened and asked him to go to the station to make a statement, but Lin said he had already scheduled a 17-day trip to Vienna starting on Sunday last week.
Lin contacted the police on Friday, saying that he would be returning to Taiwan yesterday, they said.
Lin said his phone and personal laptop were stolen at the Vienna International Airport, police said, adding that as Lin had not reported the case to the local authorities, they suspected he could be attempting to hide evidence.
Yu Hsuan International Law Firm manager Liao Fang-hsuan (廖芳萱) said that if Lin and Hsu had planned the entire scheme together, they could be found guilty of making false accusations.
If no victims are named, they could be sentenced to one year in prison or fined NT$9,000, Liao said, adding that if a victim is identified, they could serve up to seven years in prison.
As Lin knew the threats were false, the crime of making threats is baseless, but if Lin’s family were frightened by the threats, he could be found guilty of violating Article 305 of the Criminal Code, and have to serve up to two years in prison or pay a fine of NT$9,000, she said.
If found guilty of disturbing public peace, Lin and Hsu could be found guilty of contravening Article 63 of the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法) and have to spend three days in detention or pay a fine of NT$30,000, she said.
The district court might not approve a detention request for non-targeted false accusations, but could consider Lin’s claims that his phone and laptop were stolen as an attempt to hide evidence, which could increase the chance of such a request being granted, Liao said.
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