TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A retired Chinese navy officer who arrived at the mouth of the Tamsui River in a speedboat will have to serve eight months in prison, the Supreme Court decided Friday.
Ruan (阮), 60, piloted the vessel from China’s Fujian Province on June 8 to arrive at a ferry pier in Tamsui, New Taipei, 12 hours later. The Taiwan High Court ruled he had given himself up but sentenced him to eight months in jail for immigration offenses, followed by an appeal that the Supreme Court rejected, the Liberty Times reported.
After his vessel collided with a local ship as he arrived in Tamsui, he admitted he had traveled from China. The Taiwanese on the other ship called the police, who detained him.
Ruan claimed that police in China restricted his movements because they had found a large amount of anti-communist news on his phone. As a result, he planned to escape the country and give himself up to the authorities in Taiwan, he told the court.
Because Ruan was detained since his arrival, he could walk out of prison after just three weeks, TTV reported. National security and immigration authorities will have to decide whether he should be ordered to leave Taiwan after the end of his jail term.