Court frees Lo after day of detention

The Taipei District Court freed former lawmaker Lo Fu-chu (羅福助) yesterday after the gangster was detained by prosecutors for nearly 33 hours.

Judges Yeh Chien-ting (葉建廷), Kuo Hui-ling (郭惠玲) and Chen Te-min (陳德民) in their order releasing Lo said the gangster's arrest was "improper."

The court said Lo's case should be handled by Taipei district prosecutors, not by the Taiwan High Court Prosecutors' Office.

Shen Ming-lun (沈明倫), chief prosecutor for the office, said the decision would be appealed.

"We did whatever we could," Shen said. "We followed the law when dealing with this case. It's a setback for us but it's not over yet."

Shih Liang-po (施良波), spokesman for the prosecutors' office, said Lo's release was just a bump in the road.

"We're sorry for the decision the judges made," Shih said. "Through the entire process, I didn't see anything wrong with procedures or anything like that. Prosecutors and investigators have risked their safety as well as the safety of their families to investigate the Lo case."

Liu Shou-sung (劉壽嵩), spokesman for the Taipei District Court, said yesterday that Lo's case should be handled by Taipei district prosecutors. The case isn't one for the Taiwan High Court because it doesn't involve national security, Liu said.

"Usually, prosecutors from the Taiwan High Court only investigate and deal with urgent cases that concern national security," the spokesman said. "Obviously, Lo's case does not belong to this category. We cannot say [his arrest] was illegal but it was definitely not proper."

Liu also maintained that Lo's arrest was improper because the gangster isn't a flight risk.

"Usually, prosecutors will only decide to arrest a person immediately when it's likely that the suspect will run away," Liu said. "In Lo's case, the situation doesn't exist, so the judges decided that prosecutors didn't have the need to arrest him right away."

Last year, Lo fled to Hong Kong in an effort to avoid being arrested. Although he said he made the trip for business purposes and would return in a short amount of time, he spent 75 days abroad before returning to Taiwan.

Lo yesterday said that prosecutors had made threats against him during the interview process, though he wasn't specific.

"I was pretty disappointed," Lo said. "Prosecutors threatened me, asking for testimony. I understand that they have pressure. But since my arrest was improper, of course, I have the right to remain silent. Law enforcement officials shouldn't threaten the defendant during an interview, should they?"

Lo also claimed that prosecutors didn't care for human rights.

"I will take responsibility for what I have done. But don't force me to admit to crimes which I have not committed. I still have faith in the judiciary. I believe that the judges will come up with the best verdict," he said.

Chen Jui-jen (陳瑞仁), a prosecutor for the Taiwan High Court, said Lo's accusations that he was mistreated were untrue.

"Our interviews with Lo were recorded by security recorders. It's very easy to find out who's telling the truth," Chen said. "I don't understand why he would say that he was threatened by us because it's impossible."