Independent lawmaker Lo Fu-chu (
Lo, along with lawmaker Chou Wu-liu (周五六) and Lin Ming-i (林明義), are charged with assaulting DPP lawmaker Yu Cheng-tao (余政道) amid a chaotic fight among lawmakers during a legislative session on July 15 last year.
Chou and Lin did not show up, but Lo, who had never responded to a court subpoena before, made the appearance at a hearing in the Taipei District Court yesterday.
During the hearing, six videotapes of TV news programs which recorded proceedings of the June 15 session were played to review what had happened in the chamber. The court determined that Lo, surrounded by a crowd of lawmakers, forced his way through the crowd to find Yu and then punched him in the head three times.
Chou and Lin were also found to have hit Yu in the chest and belly during the incident.
The video showed Yu, whose glasses were first slapped away by Lo, eventually collapsing on the floor after the violent confrontation.
The fight broke out around 8pm. Allegedly, around noon that day, Lo made intimidating remarks against Yu and other DPP lawmakers, who had voiced strong opposition to Lo's recommendation that independent lawmaker Wu Tse-yuan (伍澤元) be made a legislative representative to the high-profile National Judicial Reform Conference in July last year.
Wu, who was former Pingtung County commissioner, had previously been convicted of graft and is still appealing his conviction. His participation was then widely debated and was eventually rejected by organizers of the conference.
Later that day, Lo was alleged to have had a physical confrontation with several DPP lawmakers as a result of a disagreement over an amendment which dealt with whether employers of the farmer and fishermen associations should be discharged after being convicted of an appealable offense.
Central to the debate over the amendment was that farmer and fishermen associations have long been seen as important bases for the KMT to pull in votes at the grassroots level during elections.
The tension then intensified when several DPP lawmakers threw papers at the vice president of the legislature, Yao Eng-chi (饒穎奇) of the KMT, who was announcing the start of a vote on the amendment despite the ongoing debates. It was at that point that Lo and the other two KMT lawmakers allegedly carried out the violent attacks against Yu.
During the hearing yesterday, Lo alleged that he had been hit first and was only fighting back. He said that it was natural for a person to "spontaneously" defend himself if attacked.
Lo, however, was unable to produce evidence to support his claim.
Lo admitted that it was not good to fight and said he is willing to "talk about" the possibility of an out-of-court settlement with Yu.
However, Yu, who arrived late due to a delayed flight, said outside the court that he did not want a settlement and he hopes the court will rule on the lawmakers' behavior in the case.
"Lawmakers can disagree, but they have no right to use violence against others," he said.
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
WARNING: People in coastal areas need to beware of heavy swells and strong winds, and those in mountainous areas should brace for heavy rain, the CWA said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday issued sea and land warnings for Typhoon Ragasa, forecasting that it would continue to intensify and affect the nation the most today and tomorrow. People in Hualien and Taitung counties, and mountainous areas in Yilan and Pingtung counties, should brace for damage caused by extremely heavy rain brought by the typhoon’s outer rim, as it was upgraded to a super typhoon yesterday morning, the CWA said. As of 5:30pm yesterday, the storm’s center was about 630km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving northwest at 21kph, and its maximum wind speed had reached
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said that it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Ragasa this morning and a land warning at night as it approached Taiwan. Ragasa intensified from a tropical storm into a typhoon at 8am yesterday, the CWA said, adding that at 2pm, it was about 1,110km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip. The typhoon was moving northwest at 13kph, with sustained winds of up to 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA Web site showed. Forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said that Ragasa was projected to strengthen as it neared the Bashi Channel, with its 200km
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS: Hualien and Taitung counties declared today a typhoon day, while schools and offices in parts of Kaohsiung and Pingtung counties are also to close Typhoon Ragasa was forecast to hit its peak strength and come closest to Taiwan from yesterday afternoon through today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Taiwan proper could be out of the typhoon’s radius by midday and the sea warning might be lifted tonight, it added. CWA senior weather specialist Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said that Ragasa’s radius had reached the Hengchun Peninsula by 11am yesterday and was expected to hit Taitung County and Kaohsiung by yesterday evening. Ragasa was forecast to move to Taiwan’s southern offshore areas last night and to its southwestern offshore areas early today, she added. As of 8pm last night,