Taipei, Oct. 8 (CNA) Agricultural blogger Lin Yu-hung (林裕紘) was detained and held incommunicado by Taiwan Taoyuan District Prosecutors Office Sunday on numerous charges involving hoax death threats he enlisted others to send to him amid controversies related to a government-funded egg import program.
Lin is suspected of violating the Criminal Code by making false accusations, and engaging in forgery and intimidation, according to the office, one day after he was arrested at Taoyuan airport on returning from Austria.
The court granted a prosecutors' request to detain Lin after an overnight detention hearing, agreeing detention was necessary to prevent him from destroying evidence and fabricating testimony with others, explaining that despite confessing to the hoax several of Lin's actions remain suspicious.
For instance, when asked to hand in his cellphone and laptop, Lin said he "lost" them on a train in Austria, the court said.
The court also said that according to Lin's friend and opposition Kuomintang (KMT) staffer Hsu Che-pin (許哲賓), who was arrested and detained on Oct. 2 over his involvement in the case, Lin asked him to delete their call and message records.
Lin, who reported on the egg scandal, claimed last month that he would stop posting after receiving death threats, and filed a lawsuit against the "blackmail sender."
Nevertheless, Lin apologized to the public on his social media page on Oct. 3, admitting that he enlisted the help of Hsu to send the death...
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