Taipei, Sept. 14 (CNA) The captain and two other members of a Taiwanese fishing boat have been indicted on charges relating to the death of Indonesian fisherman on the vessel in 2015, according to the Taiwan International Workers’ Association (TIWA).
In a statement issued Wednesday, the TIWA said the attorney representing the Indonesian fisherman’s family had been notified earlier in the day that Taiwan prosecutors had brought charges against the boat captain Chen Kai-chih (???) of “criminal negligence causing death” of the fisherman eight years ago.
The indictments, filed on Aug. 23 this year, also included charges against the ship’s chief engineer Chen Chin-piao (???) and another Indonesian fisherman Agus Setiawan, who were accused of physically abusing the victim, which led to his death, according to the TIWA.
The victim, a 43-year-old Indonesian fisherman named Supriyanto, died aboard the Kaohsiung-registered fishing vessel the Fu Tzu Chun on Aug. 25, 2015.
At the time, the Pingtung District Prosecutors Office ruled that Supriyanto had died of injuries and subsequent infections after suffering a fall on the boat, and they closed their investigations a few months later, in November 2015.
After several petitions were filed by fishermen rights groups in Taiwan, however, the office in October 2016 reopened the investigation into Supriyanto’s death.
According to the indictments brought seven years later and filed by Prosecutor Lu Hui-chen (???) in August, the boat captain Chen failed to “promptly notify the relevant agencies and make arrangements for emergency medical services and the treatment” of an injured foreign crew member, as mandated in the Fisheries Act.
Chen was therefore charged with “criminal negligence causing death,” according to the TIWA.
Meanwhile, the charges brought against Setiawan and the boat’s chief engineer Chen Chin-piao are related to suspected beatings and other types of physical abuse of Supriyanto, according to the TIWA.
Prosecutors have issued a wanted notice for another Indonesian fisherman Munawir Sazali, who they suspect was involved in Supriyanto’s death and has since left Taiwan.
The TIWA on Wednesday heavily criticized the law enforcement system in Taiwan, saying that the investigation over the past seven years had been plagued by unexplained erratic changes to the court dates, which has been torturous for the family, their attorney, and the support groups.
Before that, the first investigation that was opened in September 2015 by the Pingtung District Prosecutors Office was perfunctory, as four relevant video recordings retrieved from the fishing boat were not properly translated, which led to an early closure of the case in November 2015, the TIWA said.
Furthermore, the case exposed the lack of protection of foreign fishermen’s rights in Taiwan, which has drawn the attention of international human rights and fisheries organizations, the TIWA said.
The prosecutors’ indictments last month represented “delayed justice,” the association said, adding that the family, their attorney, and support groups had almost given up.
In 2016, local media reports cited the Control Yuan as saying that at least three video recordings of Supriyanto talking before his death about his experiences on the boat had not been properly translated, as the district prosecutors office used an Indonesian language translator, while the recordings were in central Javanese.
After the investigation reopened in 2016, Supriyanto’s family, with the help of the TIWA, retained attorney Tseng Wei-kai (???) in February 2017, and he filed a criminal complaint on the fisherman’s death, the association said.
In May 2018, a fisherman named Sukhirin, who was also working on the Fu Tzu Chun, returned to Taiwan as a key witness in the case, the association said.
