The Kaohsiung branch of the High Court reduced a Chinese man’s sentence from 26 to 13 years in prison on Thursday for allegedly ordering the shooting of suspected pirates while captaining a Taiwanese vessel in 2012, says an article published in Taipei Times.
Homicide and contraventions
After the ship he was captain of at the time, the Seychelles-flagged Indian Star, landed at the Port of Kaohsiung on Aug. 22, 2020, Wang Fengyu was detained.
In October of that year, prosecutors in Kaohsiung charged Wang with homicide and violating the Controlling Guns, Ammunition, and Knives Act for the alleged shooting of four suspected pirates.
Wang was found guilty of the charges and sentenced to 26 years in jail by the Kaohsiung District Court in January of last year.
Serious security issues
Wang filed an appeal, but the sentence was upheld by the High Court in May of last year.
He filed a new appeal with the Supreme Court, which identified inconsistencies in the evidence given and ordered the Kaohsiung branch of the High Court to re-examine the case for a retrial in August of last year.
The High Court cut Wang’s sentence to 13 years on Thursday, saying the evidence only demonstrated that he ordered the killing of one suspected pirate, not four.
The court stated that it took into account the substantial security concerns raised by the event at sea while making its decision.
Unidentified fishing
The decision can yet be challenged.
The incident occurred on September 29, 2012, while the Ping Shin No. 101, a Kaohsiung-registered ship, was operating in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Somalia.
In 2011, Wang was employed as the acting captain of the Ping Shin by a Kaohsiung firm, according to court filings.
The vessel, together with the Kaohsiung-registered Chun I No. 217 and two other unidentified fishing boats, were allegedly shot upon by a vessel crewed by four accused pirates while operating some 595 kilometres southeast of Mogadishu, according to court filings.
Ammunition fired
The assaulting vessel was rammed by one of the fishing boats, which capsized and tossed the crew into the water.
It was revealed that Wang allegedly told two Pakistani crew members he hired to shoot the males in the water.
10-minute video clip of the gunshots was shared online two years later in August 2014, after a smartphone thought to have filmed the shootings was discovered in a cab in Fiji and an unidentified individual posted the video to YouTube.
As 40 rounds of live ammunition are fired, a man thought to be the captain is heard delivering commands to the crew over a megaphone in Mandarin with a Chinese accent.
Tracking down
The four men in the water are shot one by one, and the water around them becomes red in the footage.
There are no images of the shooters.
Despite the fact that Wang is Chinese and the crime took place in the Indian Ocean, prosecutors claim they were able to charge him in Taiwan since the gunshots took place aboard a Taiwanese ship.
Wang allegedly told authorities that he was involved in “hunting down pirates,” but that the shots were in “self-defense,” according to the indictment.
Did you subscribe to our newsletter?
It’s free! Click here to subscribe!
Source: Taipei Times
