Magazine, Lu continue to spar

Lawyers defending The Journalist magazine (新新聞周報) against libel charges from Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) have asked the Taipei District Court hearing the case to allow the testimony of confidential witnesses.

But the request has been severely criticized by Lu's lawyers, who say secret testimony would violate the constitutional right to a fair trial and the spirit of an "open trial."

Typically, secret testimony has only been allowed in trials involving gangsters, in which it is sometimes necessary to protect the identity of witnesses fearful of retribution and death threats.

If the request is approved, neither Lu's lawyers nor The Journalist would be present during the testimony of the confidential witnesses, who would be examined by the judge alone. Transcripts of their testimonies would also be withheld from both parties.

The political weekly made the request yesterday at the third hearing of its defamation dispute with the vice president.

Lawyers for The Journalist argued that confidentiality was "necessary" in order to protect its news sources, who have claimed they are apprehensive of the "consequences" of testifying against the vice president.

The dispute between the magazine and Lu erupted in November when The Journalist published a story that accused Lu of spreading a rumor about President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) having an extra-marital affair. The magazine said Lu spread the rumor in order to unseat the newly elected leader.

Lu filed a civil suit demanding a formal apology from the magazine, saying the story had caused injury to her reputation.

Lo Min-ton (羅明通), one of the two attorneys for the The Journalist, said yesterday that the secret testimony was necessary in order to protect the magazine's anonymous sources. In addition, Lo argued that failure to protect the identity of sources would have a chilling effect on free speech.

"To protect the news sources, we request that their testimony not be open to the public and that their identities be held in confidentiality," Lo said.

"We know news sources do not have any privileges in legal proceedings. But we believe the case is a unique one, because of its significance to the constitutional guarantee of a free press. We insist that without the protection of witnesses, there would be no free press."

The defense lawyer also said one of their news sources was reluctant to come forward, as his wife has threatened to divorce him if he testifies in the case.

The confidentiality request was made after trial judge Lai Yang-hua (賴泱樺) pressed The Journalist to present evidence or witnesses to support its arguments that its November report was thoroughly researched and investigated.

Meanwhile, lawyers for Lu strongly objected to the motion and dismissed it as a "reckless violation of the rule of law."

"Nothing would do more harm to the rule of law than this [motion]," said Charles Chiu (邱雅文), one of six lawyers for the vice president. "The secret witness system is used in cases such as those involving organized crime, and there has been debate that this system is unconstitutional. This is not an organized crime case and our vice president is not a mafia leader who would order witnesses killed or threatened."

Wellington Koo (顧立雄), another lawyer for Lu, said allowing confidential testimony would violate the constitutional right to a fair trial. But he also conceded that under the Court Organization Law, a judge has the discretion to allow secret testimony if it is necessary to protect national security or public order.