Ex-Community Committee Chair Indicted for Canceling Residents' Elevator Access After Forced Eviction Vote

(Central News Agency, reporter Xie Junlin, Taipei 9th) A former community management committee chair, surnamed Lin, in Taipei City, presided over a unit owners' meeting in November 2023 where a forced eviction resolution was passed against two residents, surnamed Liang and You. Subsequently, he allegedly arranged for a contractor to cancel the magnetic key fobs of the two residents, preventing them from using the elevator. The Taipei District Prosecutors Office today (9th) indicted the former chair and two others on charges of coercion and other offenses.

According to the indictment from the Taipei District Prosecutors Office, the community is located in the Wenshan District of Taipei City. The former chair, surnamed Lin, originally served as the chair of the 23rd term management committee for three buildings (A, B, C) and became the vice-chair for the 24th term. A general affairs officer, surnamed Zheng, transferred to a security guard position in 2024, responsible for equipment maintenance and community affairs. Zheng's sister was hired as a consultant, involved in community matters including litigation. None of the three individuals resided in the community.

The indictment states that in November 2023, the former chair Lin presided over the 24th term unit owners' meeting, where a motion to forcibly evict the residents, Liang and You, from the 9th floor was passed. Despite knowing that the management committee had not yet obtained a final court judgment for the forced eviction of the two residents, the former chair Lin and the Zheng siblings obstructed the residents' right to use the elevator by installing an elevator card reader system.

The indictment indicates that in February 2024, the consultant Zheng contacted a contractor, stating the community's intention to install elevator card readers for floor access control. The former chair Lin also convened a management committee meeting in the same month, passing a proposal to "install fixed-floor magnetic key fobs on elevators" under the pretext of maintaining community safety.

According to the indictment, the contractor installed the elevator card readers in March 2024. The security guard Zheng provided the contractor with a list of resident unit numbers to program the key fobs for floor control. In April of the same year, when the contractor visited the community to demonstrate functions like "locking cards" for specific residents, the security guard Zheng instructed the contractor to delete the magnetic key codes for residents Liang and You, rendering them unable to take the elevator to their residential floor. The two residents filed a complaint in anger.

Following an investigation, the prosecutor determined that the actions of the former chair Lin and the Zheng siblings violated the Criminal Code, including offenses of coercion and unauthorized deletion of others' electronic records. The three were indicted today (9th), and the court was requested to impose a heavier penalty under the offense of unauthorized deletion of others' electronic records as per the Criminal Code. (Editor: Li Xizhang) 1150609